Witty, self-deprecatory, earthy, emotional and energetic, the Australian singer-songwriter’s superbly fun and sweary new LP of love, loss and addiction has echoes of Suicide and country-era Bob Dylan. There’s bucketloads of jokes and somehow also powerful feelings brewing on this release. With a reflection on his hard drinking days, opener The Arsehole is upbeat, catchy, country-inflected indie rock in which he wastes no time with an ironic self-punishing portrait. The excellent Fun Guy, a former Song of the Day, has pumping drum machine and scything guitar, and humour with stylistic energy of Suicide’s Alan Vega. Bin Boy is slower, but cleverly crafted mid-career Dylan-esque ballad from the perspective of a wheelie bin (“when you wheel me out into the street… you never think to hose me out”). The One is a thumping indie heartbreaker, Baby Squid is fabulously powerful, power-rock country number, while another single, Terracotta Brick is an emotive theme-tune for a hardworking building trade. There are other gems aplenty, from Turtle In The Sand to Feels to Pricks to closer Companion Pony, often hyperbolically melodramatic but somehow genuinely flooding with feeling, now celebrating sobriety, Bibby’s comedic and songwriting talent delivers unsinkably irresistible rock, pop and country earworms. Heart-wrenching jest. Out on Spinning Top Records.
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