Why are Australian bands so damn urgent? Just look at some past Aussie superstars: Midnight Oil, Silverchair, INXS — not subtle folk. These are people who are trying to get their point across with a sledgehammer. Maybe it’s something in the water down there. Or maybe it’s the fact that they’re tired of being thought of as that cute little country with koalas and Crocodile Dundee.
Powderfinger is the latest band from Down Under trying to make it big over here in the States. These guys are HUGE in their home country: “Odyssey Number Five,” their fourth album, was released in Australia last year and it has already been certified quintuple-platinum. Not bad for five guys from Brisbane.
Why should you care about Powderfinger? If you were lucky enough to attend the recent “Coldplay” show up in Portland, then you would have seen Powderfinger’s high-energy opening set. If you’ve seen “Mission: Impossible 2,” then you’ve heard them: “My Kind of Scene” (included on “Odyssey Number Five”) was featured on the soundtrack album.
So, what does Powderfinger sound like? Listening to this album gives me a mental image of the band in the recording studio, lights off, candles lit, with singer Bernard Fanning singing in the corner with tightly closed eyes and clenched fists. As far as sonic architecture goes, Powderfinger doesn’t stray far from the early Radiohead approach: vocals high up in the mix, prominent acoustic guitar, abrasive electric guitar and solid rhythm section. In fact, many of these songs would fit very comfortably on “Pablo Honey.”
Fanning has a very nice voice, somewhat high, fragile and expressive. It’s a good vehicle for the unabashedly emotional, personal songs contained on “Odyssey Number Five.” In fact, the greatest missteps on “Odyssey Number Five” occur when Powderfinger tries too hard to assert its “rawk n’ roll” side. “Like A Dog” chugs along over a sludgy glam-rock riff, while Fanning unconvincingly growls, “If you treat me like a dog and keep me locked in a cage/I’m not relaxed or comfortable/I’m aggravation and rage.” Scary stuff, man. The first time I heard this song I couldn’t help but chuckle at how silly it sounded.
Thankfully, moments like this are rather scarce on “Odyssey Number Five.” In fact, a great many of the tracks are the kind of grade-A, guitar-driven power ballads that give you goosebumps when they come on over your car radio. In particular, the first three songs on “Odyssey Number Five” are a tour de force of catchy riffage, delicate singing and unbelievably catchy melodies. “Waiting For The Sun” kicks things on with some monstrously chunky guitar playing and the kind of intense singing that will make you either love or hate Powderfinger. The second song, “My Happiness,” boasts a chorus that will be stuck in your head for hours and hours whether you want it to be or not. Track 3, “The Metre,” manages to add an aggressive string section without sounding overly bombastic, and its chorus may actually be catchier than the one belonging to the previous song.
All in all, “Odyssey Number Five” is an undeniably solid effort. There is nary a second on this album that is not filled with a well-written, straight-faced piece of fine pop writing. Perhaps I am damning “Odyssey Number Five” with faint praise, but I assure you that it is faint praise of the highest order.