Mirrors
Kev Carmody
Song Cycles
A$30 from <http://www.thelastrecordstore.com/independents.html#kevcarmody>.
REVIEW BY IGGY KIM
Kev Carmody has been much missed since his last original album release, 1995's Images and Illusions. While his live performances continued, some of us were a little worried by the 2000 release of his compilation album Messages. Like a retrospective exhibition, compilation albums usually herald an artist's passing into revered — but retired — status.
Kev was especially missed, because Australian political music seems to be at an ebb — just when we need it most. In changing times, music gives a unique voice to cultural dissent. But corporate profiteers have stitched up the music industry in Australia with mindless audio fairy-floss.
But have no fear: Kev Carmody is back, still full of the powerful political passion and evocative sense of country that first stirred us to attention 15 years ago. A self-funded independent production, Mirrors continues Carmody's label-defying musical style, fully recharged for a world much changed since 1995.
Using some of his most original music arrangements, Mirrors includes a contemptuous swipe at US President George "Dubya" Bush and a warm message of Indigenous solidarity with refugees. These combine with songs expressing — and celebrating — a spirit of country and environment that is defiant of the powers trying to destroy it.
The opening track, "Dirty Dollar", reminds us of what's at stake:
"Eatin' whale meat faster, than they give birth "Dumpin' First World products in Third World lands "Just wanna know which side you stand
They're connin' us all... it's scientific research
Them chain saws dozers clearin' the trees
'Cos it's so good for the economy
Forcing mono-culture into starvin' hands
Executin', jailin', those who say it's unfree
Rich importin' their wealth an' exportin' poverty
For the dirty dollar or a pristine land"
"Refugees" is a slow, reflective spoken-word indictment of Australia's refugee policy, comparing it to the brutality of the Aborigines' colonial experience:
"Seeking refuge, seeking shelter from the livin' hell they've been captured and imprisoned "This land is my spirit, my right is sovereignty
bankers' armoured tanks, will their god extend
compassion and embrace the immigrants
Their crime is seeking shelter from a human
as dangerous criminals.
But we exist here alienated as colonised refugees.
As colonised refugees"
This song is somewhat reminiscent of his earlier "Darkside" (Bloodlines, 1993), with a haunting use of reverberating mandolin. The latter was a tale of Murri life in the urban poor black community in Logan City, another form of imprisonment by racism. And like "Darkside", "Refugees" continues to linger long after the track has ended.
Despite the times he writes about, Carmody manages to retain his sense of humour. "Are You Connected?" is a satire of the alienating use of technology today, set in a tongue-in-cheek way to a thudding techno arrangement. Kev's baffled "Hello...hello...hello" fights its way through a funny barrage of automated voice prompts.
"Dubya Love Ya?" is a bitter-funny swipe at the world's most dangerous man. It's also a sharp rebuke at the religious justifications given for the US-led — and other — crusades:
"We gentile, infidel, heathen ones
Caught in the cross fire with worse to come
Monotheism that comes from the Middle East
Seem to be based on war......ain't based on peace
Torah, Koran, Bible if ya take a look
Take their God's Word......from that ol' monotheistic book."
Carmody's deep sense of the beauty of life also continues to shine through in lush, poetic tributes to the Australian landscape.
"Moonstruck" is a sentimental but lovely song about the magic of the outback moon, rendered in a traditional country style with the acoustic guitar up front.
"Georgina River" is a laid-back celebration of that magnificent river in western Queensland, vital to the ecology and Indigenous communities of that vast region.
In the instrumental "Campfire Rain", the dramatic sounds of a thunderstorm are skilfully interwoven with a lullaby-like, gentle sway of acoustic guitar, harmonica and yadaki (didgeridoo). In amongst it, Carmody manages to play in a handsaw without jarring the arrangement.
Indeed, despite its tight budget, Carmody hasn't sacrificed the production quality. Together with a talented team of fellow Indigenous musicians, Carmody has come up with some innovative sounds.
In "El Diablo Blanco", spoken-word poetry is set against a highly original crafting together of whip cracks and steel-string guitar played Spanish style. At least in art, the less one has to work with, the more ingenious can be the results.
Mirrors is a very welcome return from the master bard of Australian political music.
[For more information on his music, visit Kev Carmody's web site at <http://www.kevcarmody.com.au>.]
From Green Left Weekly, February 4, 2004.
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