Potential Falcon
Wings On Fire
10 Track, LP (2009, Stomp)
Related: Aleks And The Ramps, Plastic Palace Alice, Potential Falcon.
For all the dazzling quirks and left-field surprises offered by Melbourne’s Aleks and the Ramps, that band’s Simon Connolly and Joseph Foley steer themselves in a whole other direction with Potential Falcon. Fronted by Connolly, this five-piece traffics in timeless rock adorned with ringing hooks and earnest sentiments. (Think of The Eagles and other American staples, you won’t hear much of an Aussie tinge to Connolly’s singing.) There was an alt-country influence dogging the band’s 2007 mini-album Hank Williams Grave, but that’s been toned down in favour of more a straightforward attack on Wings On Fire.
None of this is to brand Potential Falcon as dull or old-fashioned. Connolly may write lyrics that mostly put his pleading front and centre, but the band’s instrumentation – Connolly (vocals/guitar), Foley (bass), Huw Murdoch (guitar), Hugo Tremby (guitar/keys) and Donovan Martin (drums) – is often crisp and slippery enough to recall Chicago’s Tortoise, of all bands. So if these songs seem all too traditional on the surface, there’s a lot going on underneath. Take the single ‘On The Road (Pt. 1)’, which has a spacey yet rollicking momentum despite some vague storytelling. Or ‘Evergreen’, which floats past without incident until unwieldy tangles of guitar rear up over a grip of punchy keys.
Other winning touches on this self-produced disc include a melancholy horn part on ‘Valentines Day’, sweetly chiming guitars on the closing ‘Honey (Pt. 2)’ (the companion to ‘On The Road’), and a drifting finish to the six-minute opener ‘For Melinda’. The latter’s lyrics conjuring a shared joint and deep blue eyes.
The only unwelcome turn comes on ‘Call A Cab’, when the music suddenly grows crashing and dire as Connolly roars about the sucking out of marrow. Otherwise, this is pleasant, diverting stuff. It may not be as colourful as Aleks and the Ramps or as densely dreamy as Murdoch’s other band Plastic Palace Alice, but there’s certainly a place at the table for Potential Falcon.
by Doug Wallen
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