Second Skin
Ghostwriters
Polygram
Reviewed by Marcus Greville

The Ghostwriters have produced a very strong album, incorporating brooding vocals with a large variety of instrumental depth and melody within each track. Unfortunately, the depth of musical form cannot hide the lack of vocal style, creating a vague feeling of sameness across the album.

The breadth of sound is achieved with a huge number of instruments, including violin, cello, oboe, slide guitar and the horn section from Hunters and Collectors. The horn section in "Lying to me" makes it a stand-out track.

The album abstractly refers to a range of social issues, including Aboriginal land ownership, housing commission buildings and homelessness, without removing the ambiguity of personal interpretation. Too much use is made of liberal American symbolism, however, such as the liberty bell reference in the otherwise excellent final track "Letter to Bill and Hillary".

The mix of strongly textured sounds with the menacing delivery of each track makes Second Skin evocative and worthwhile listening. I would give it 8.5 out of 10.

This article was posted on the Green Left Weekly Home Page.
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