SOMETHING FOR KATE
Leave Your Soul To Science (EMI)
It’s been six years since Something For Kate’s last recorded album,
Desert Lights, and the lead up to that album, a well-documented tale
of writers block, anger and anguish, translated into some of the
loudest, most pointed guitar rock of their career. Leave Your Soul To
Science is almost the exact opposite – by all reports Paul Dempsey,
Stephanie Ashworth and Clint Hyndman were excited to be back in the
studio, and that sense of excitement and enthusiasm permeates even the
darker corners of Science. This is an album which declares the band is
back, and ready to launch into the next phase of their already
two-decade career.
Little sonic flourishes, the likes of which the band haven’t really
used before, abound on Science, taking the group’s sound to all new
places. Ashworth’s bassline on The Kids Will Get The Money almost
chokes on fuzz. The Fireball At The End Of Everything adds digital
looped drums to Hyndman’s solid stickwork. Dempsey’s guitar work is
stellar as always, nowhere more so than on opening salvo Star-Crossed
Citizens, with its blasting thrust of a power riff over his crooning
falsetto vocals. The most noticeable change might be the return of
keys (including in the live show), which adds depth and variety,
especially on majestic centrepiece Deep Sea Divers, a mostly acoustic
duet which provides the album’s most aching moment.
Far from a complete reinvention, Science finds Something For Kate
adding new elements to their already considerable repertoire,
developing their sound rather than changing it. Dempsey’s lyrics are
still wry, often purposefully vague interpretations of the world he
sees around him, but if you sat this record next to the EPs from the
beginning of the band’s career, you’d be hard-pressed to think they
were the same band. This is one group who aren’t trying to relive past
glories, or redefine themselves to try to stay edgy, but instead is
happy to age gracefully, so long as they’re learning more about
themselves along the way. We can be grateful we’re along for the ride.
[rating: 4/5]
Liam McGinnis
