Search - Shane Howard :: Another Country

Quiet please there's a genius at work....

Murri | Geelong, Australia | 03/29/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Shane Howard's last studio album, 2001's Beyond Hope's Bridge, was in many ways a companion piece to 1996's engagingly folky Clan, which was sparked by a journey to the songwriter's ancestral Ireland. The similarly acoustically-inclined Beyond Hope's Bridge, which built on his Irish roots, offered a beautiful if bleak perspective from home looking back out again. Now, nearly four years on again, the progression continues, with Another Country steering a path deep into the Australian landscape and beyond in a manner devoid of any myopia or stridency. In a way, the artist's latest and arguably greatest album pulls together the strands of a 30 odd years songwriting career. Few writers have summed up Shane Howard more eloquently or more succinctly than the Melbourne Age's Warwick McFadyen, who called him "a sculptor of song, chipping away at the rock of ages." Paul Kelly excepted, no contemporary singer-songwriter has penned so many genuinely great songs or made a more enduring impact on the domestic music scene. Howard's socially conscious songs have an uncanny capacity to gently stir the soul, activate the senses without being in any way preachy. As environmentally and politically aware as they are, they are the work of a poet rather than an activist - songs imbued with an inherent sense of humanity and spirituality as well as superior musicality.



Howard's eighth solo album is the work of a master songwriter at his peak. It's an album that reflects the external world - one irrevocably changed by catastrophic global events - while remaining earthed in the metaphysical world. From Coopers Creek to San Francisco, from Babylon to Bethlehem, from Burke & Wills to the back of Bourke and back to St. Kilda, Howard gently guides us through his 'country'.



It's an album of great songs - none greater than the biblically referenced 'Abraham'. With its classically concise chorus ("Abraham, Abraham why send your sons to war? / Abraham, Abraham stay your hand says the Lord / Abraham the pen is mightier than the sword") and verses like "Thieves back in the temple divide the spoils of war / Fanatics in the sacred places rewriting hold laws", it bears comparison lyrically with some of Dylan's most potent anti-war statements of yore (viz 'Masters of War' and 'With God On Our Side').



'Never Be The Same' is another instant classic, a beautifully crafted philosophical work employing harmonium, mandolin and foot stomps for effect and adopting an addictive refrain to underline the song's message.



Howard's affinity with Aboriginal culture and the Australian bush, a recurring feature of his work, is manifested most notably in 'Near Utopia' and the opening 'Cooper's Creek', the latter nodding to the American standard 'Wayfaring Stranger' in both tune and tone. 'Don't Cry' and the hymn like sign-off track 'I Go Out Walking' have a dream-like quality, further promoted by the artist's characteristic understated and laidback vocal delivery. Howard's sister Marcia and brother Damian lend strong harmonic support on 'St Kilda Again', a song that hints at Goanna's break-up and perhaps disillusionment with the mainstream music industry. On 'Till The Rivers All Run Dry' - the album's sole cover - Shane employs a veritable family of Howards for vocal back-up (no fewer than seven of the buggers!).



Another Country's co-producer and mixer Phil Butson also merits plaudits, not only for his studio expertise but also for co-writing several songs and playing exemplary lead guitar. The album, recorded in Howard's home studio on the wild south west coast of Victoria with a relatively new band, has a wonderfully relaxed and warm vibe. Those expecting to hear a reprise of Goanna or some of the major label albums in Shane's back catalogue will be sorely disappointed. For long-haul fans, who cherish this gentle man's poetic nature and artistic integrity, Another Country will be treasured.



1993's 'Talk of the Town', one of the best songs written about The North's 'Big Wet', figures on both Another Country - the only regurgitated offering on that album"