When the advent of Seattle bands hit in the early 1990s, there were a lot of copycats. I do mean a lot of copycats. Remember Seven Mary Three? The Nixons? And then you had bands that actually garnered success from being extremely derivative, the best example being Bush.
Another band that garnered quite a bit of stateside success back in 1994 was Silverchair, an Australian trio who were reamed by critics six ways from Sunday for being nothing more than a "Pearl Jam ripoff." What those critics failed to take into consideration (or didn't care about it) was that when Silverchair recorded their debut album, they were only 15. They didn't listen to Daniel Johns and say "damn, he's only 15 and he already sounds amazing." They listened to Daniel Johns and said "damn, his band sucks." The derivative arguments would follow Silverchair through to their sophomore release, but by the time of their third album, most critics just didn't care. The band still went gold, but was eventually dropped by Epic Records.
The band's first hit, Tomorrow, had a line of "Wait til tomorrow." Well, Silverchair has returned with their fourth album, Diorama, and the album makes one thing very clear: tomorrow is here for the lads in Silverchair.
Diorama is quite honestly a work of impassioned beauty, an album that is not only good, but brilliant. It's not so much about rocking out as it is writing solid, creative songs. It's the type of album that comes along only once every so often.
When you first hear the opening track, Across the Night, you will most likely have your jaw drop open. Mine did. Silverchair using horns? The song almost sounds like something Elvis Costello would pull out of his bag of never ending pop tricks. It's a big, bouncy, almost old fashioned pop song that wouldn't sound out of place at all as the intro to some big Hollywood production.
Yes it's true, the band has really gone for a much bigger fleshing out of their sound, and the results, from Across the Night to Luv Your Life to My Favourite Thing, are some of the most satisfying pieces of music I have heard in recent memory.
The band hasn't forgotten how to rock, as shown by The Greatest View. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this song is that it mixes in a symphony with a driving rock song. Last time a rock band tried that (Metallica and their S&M project), the results were decidedly mixed. Not to mention, when it did work, it didn't work anywhere near as well as this collaboration does. The guitar and the strings complement each other greatly, and the song sounds extremely hopeful, despite the somewhat dark tone of the instrumentation, especially on the bridge.
Perhaps the most creative apex of the album is found on Tuna in the Brine, an extremely dramatic song musically, and almost as dark lyrically ("the light in my darkest hour is fear, denies me of anything good..."). It's a song about the search for truth in a relationship gone awry, and Johns' lyrics are unbelievably good.
Luv Your Life kind of recalls the sound found on Across the Night, which probably shouldn't be that much of a surprise given the fact that the orchestra was arranged by the same person (Van Dyke Parks) on both tracks. I honestly feel that if this song was sung by someone like Elton John, it would be an immediate worldwide #1 smash. It is THAT good of a pop song, with a great hook, great chorus, and a simply wonderful vocal performance by Johns.
My Favourite Thing will break your heart with lines like "you're my favourite thing, and I feel like letting go," while a song like The Lever will draw you in with it's nice guitar work and the rock solid job of the under-appreciated rhythm section (drummer Ben Gillies and bassist Chris Joannou). Lest I forget Without You, which has a really nice swirling guitar riff over some more of Johns' best vocal work to date.
As today's music industry progresses, you can only expect that albums like Diorama will become even more rare than they already are. With the emphasis on scoring a hit now, bands aren't given the time to develop. Lucky for us, Silverchair has come into their own with this record. Kudos to Atlantic for releasing it here in the States.
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