The Nice Folk
Devil At My Door
10 Track, LP (2009, Music Farmers)
Related: The Nice Folk.
“You wanna be my favourite drug? You gotta be better than all those other drugs.”
So begins the first line of the debut studio album from Wollongong’s The Nice Folk. It’s an intriguing one; resonating with sneering detachment and a lustful, gritty sensuality, it sets the tone perfectly for the remaining nine tracks.
Devil At My Door is a dirty, bluesy folk-rock invocation with a low-down country twang and the gorgeous inclusion of keys, brass and strings. It opens with Josh 9 Lives’ demented-carnival keyboard riff – immediately disturbing but strangely enticing – before Captain Special K’s powerful trumpet joins in. The song swaps between a slow, oozing blues and Lax Charisma’s frenetic guitar rock, always skilfully grounded by the tight rhythm section of Angry A Lot and Stu Bob Slackjaw’s bass and drums, respectively. It feels like a harem in here.
“Won’t let you fuck me – unless you kiss me first.”
In ‘How The Hell Did We Get Here?’, singer Dave Mutton’s deep drawl is softened by Jamie-Leigh Basic’s womanly harmonies for the titular refrain – which is sung between killer lines such as, “This could be the last time hell ever looked this good/Heaven’s always looked just fine/No matter where we stood” – and also on the call-and-answer vocals for ‘I’m So Happy (You’re Leaving Me)’; his dark voice made all the more heavy by the contrast of her lighter touch.
There’s a distinct feeling of Australiana to this record too, but not in a forced or cliched way. Devil At My Door paints a lot of pictures. It evokes dried eucalypt leaves blown into the corners of a bare floorboarded shack, a chair in the corner and a pursued criminal (of the bushranger school of Australian crime) on the porch with a rapidly-emptying bottle. If it were a colour, this record would be a Russell Drysdale red. In fact, this album is like viewing a Drysdale, if you’ll allow such a tangent. It’s a hot, dry dusk, in those few moments between afternoon and evening where – in everywhere but the city – the Australian sky blazes a terrifying crimson. That heavy, humid stillness and the hushed, immobilising heat. A muted sexuality. The tension is overwhelming. Something is always about to happen. Yeah, that’s exactly what this album’s like: it’s tense and sexy and dark, and you want it to last forever.
Devil At My Door makes me proud to say I grew up in Wollongong. That in itself is a big deal. This album is fast becoming my favourite drug.
by A.H. Cayley
Thanks very much Anne.
Awesome review.
No love guys.
That is a good review - still have to get my hands on a copy of this.
same here
good review there tho Lax, looking forward to hearing it ;)
Those good for nothing cunts DL. YOU were supposed to have been hooked up for now.
Still you work with pissheads and stoners this is what happens. I might have to get on a train and hook you up myself.
You got yer CD yet DL?
I reckon this should get a bump too...
OK. This is now available at Repressed Records. Yeah thats right I looked under my bed, found some and took em' down there.
Awesome. EVERYBODY BUY A COPY.
Legendary! South Coast forever!
I'll go get one when I get back from Golden Plains, Lax :)
hot off the press: YIS + The Nice Folk + Whipped Cream Chargers @ The Lansdowne, Sunday April 4th.
Aww yeah!
OH MY GOD THAT GIG WILL RULE.
I can't say no to a $5 meal and some M+N bands!
I'd forgotten what a great song this is. Thanks for the bumpy reminder, Lax.
Thanks for the interest. I put I think 5 copies of the disc in Repressed. I'll put more in there if need be until we run out of discs. Been so busy with work lately I haven't thought much about The Nice Folk....actually today I've been nostalgic about my earlier band Hee Haw. A tune came up on my iPod and I remembered how awesome we were.
I'm glad your still digging that tune Anne. Sometimes breaking up with someone can be awesome.
This gig at the Lansdowne will be great I've got that feeling. If only we could Pedro to be special guest chef in the kitchen that night it would be perfect.
DON'T TELL ANYONE!
it will be ace. i haven't seen whipped cream chargers but transientrandom gives them the almighty thumbs up... and there's one more band to be added to the bill.
He could fly us all to the gig in his helicopter. It would be groovy.
I'd be there if I wasn't going to be flying into Madrid from Marrakesh that day.
As groovy as what Tom used to catch mice?
OK Godzilla your excused.
Groovier Judy. GROO-VI-EEEERRR
Big call, Lax. Biiiig caaaaallll.
This is turning into the in-joke thread.
C'mon flying by helicopter to your own gig is the grooviest.
Take the time to get the joke. You'll see that we're the Nice Folk.
If in doubt refer to the ''bonus'' track.
Every thread that mentions Wombarra turns into an in-joke thread.
(I still have a gazillion photos of the little green dude too. Maybe we should incorporate him into our album art or something.)
I watched the videos we made on my phone of the little green dude the other day. first time I'd watched them.
Oh yes...the lil' green dude sigh
Is this your band Lax?
Excuse me, I think I've got something in my eye...
The Nice Folk? Yeah...well I play in it. Sometimes.
Oh well done sir! I will have a listen when I get home from hell this afternoon.
I was at a party once and Dick Smith arrived in his own helicopter.
It is a seriously cool way of making an entrance
Yeah...it's on Myspazz. I warn you that it doesn't sound much like any of the bands I listen to i.e. The Nice Folk don't sound like Jane's Addiction or Burzum.
I'm sure it will be painless!
Maybe. Let us know.
haha we shall discuss it tomorrow. I'm out for the afternoon, see ya kids.
Later Jack.
Or act like 'em. To this end, I recommend you don't eat Dave's brain while shirtless, Lax.
I have thought of stabbing him a few times. Then I could make shithouse casio ambient albums in prison. Then when I get out I can make an awesome comeback album. You know Fez maybe you have convinced me to finally stab that bastard. I'll use the photo of his corpse for our next album.
Lax, For the lyrics alone, you may be my new favourite band
Cheers Jack...yeah we get that a bit. I'm guessing you listened to ''Nobody Else''. That one gets people a lot on first listen. These come from the poisoned pen of Dave Mutton. The guy drives me nuts and I want to kill him but he writes good songs, fun songs to play.