It’s been two years since we last heard from Perth lads Eskimo Joe, and they’re back with a brand new crowd-funded album titled Wastelands that takes their sound in a vastly different direction from their previous records.
Upon immediate listening there’s a lot of electro-synth-grooves making themselves apparent on this record. It’s like they’ve been listening to a lot of The Presets, or Midnight Juggernauts whilst they put this LP together. That may have been in part due to them recruiting Burke Reid in to steer the production, who came in with a brutally honest and minimalist approach.
‘Running Out Of Needs’ is the opening track, as the trademark Kav Temperley vocals lead us in, and for just under the first two minutes it basically sounds like early Eskimo Joe, but at the halfway mark is when it kicks up a gear and we’re washed over with all these buzzy noises and vocal harmonies. The next track ‘Not Alone’ really rams it home that the band has changed their musical stylings to something quite unlike the works of the past as we get a healthy dose of electric piano in our ears. Even the cymbals and drums that kick off ‘Sad Song’ sound like they’ve been shoved into a mixer and come out the other side in binary digitised form.
‘Disgrace’ is the token ballad, it opens with some gospel style backing vocal harmonies that immediately lead us to Temperley’s brooding vocals plastered in the forefront with barely any other instruments to distract you until it reaches the middle 8. It’s probably the closest song you’ll hear that resembles material off their A Song Is A City record. ‘What You Want’ sounds like we’ve been dropped into an 8-bit vintage video game with what sounds like a Casio keyboard and even a theremin making an appearance. It kinda has a Depeche Mode feel somewhere in there. ‘Keep It Coming’ has bit more of a preppy-poppy vibe with some well placed hand claps and 4/4 timed strummed guitars, and closing track ‘Last Beacon Light’ sounds a bit like The Postal Service with Temperley almost crooning in the verses “fight the fire, with strange desire, only ever finds you in the darkest hour, I could be the one who can switch you on”.
Overall though this album will probably take a good few spins for people to warm to it. Particularly for fans of Eskimo Joe who will probably be a little confused by this drastic change in sound. Interestingly though it doesn’t feel like too far of a stretch from some of the tracks off their debut record Girl. Tracks like ‘Election’ or ‘Love List’ off their debut incorporated some electronic and synthesised elements, it was just a lot more guitar heavy than what Wastelands is. Personally the first single ‘Running Out Of Needs’, ‘Sad Song’ and ‘What You Want’ are the standout tracks on this record.
Review Score: 7.5 out of 10
Wastelands is out now through iTunes.
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