Album Reviews

Melbourne’s Smith Street Band are back at it and if you like heart-on-sleeve type lyrics coupled to memorable melodies, then you can just stop reading here and go pick up your copy of “Throw Me In The River”, the band’s new album, right now.

For those of you who aren’t quite as easily convinced, we can go on by saying that listening to a Smith Street Band album at times feels like secretly reading someone’s diary entries. It can be heartbreaking at times but this time around there is a light at the end of the tunnel thanks to the largely instrumental closing track “I Love Life”.

But first you’ll have to work your way through the more mellow introspection of “Calgary Girls” and the title track, the bitterness of the surprisingly poppy “I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore” and the rocking “Surrender” and “East London Summer”. Whatever road these antipodeans choose to travel down, it always sounds amazing thanks to Jeff Rosenstock’s production job, the mix courtesy of Jonathan Low (The War On Drugs, The National) and of course, the band’s songwriting skills.

“Throw Me In The River” is The Smith Street Band’s best album to date and if you’ve heard their earlier work, you’ll know that is saying a lot. I can only guess where they’ll go from here!