© Mankyboddle

TIMEJuly 21 to July 27 1989OFF

Jarra Hill Records

The Sweets Of Sin

Those of you who buy Jarra Hill records for their politeness and sedateness will get a rude awakening from this Sydney-based trio's debut album. They fit the mould to the extent that they are highly proficient multi-instrumenalists. But it's the eccentric tangents to which those talents are employed that unsettles the comfortable image.

And unsettling it is. They produce a jazzed-up jagged rock that tosses in all sorts of bizarre flavours, like bent operatics (Who's Ian), vocals in German (In The Ditch) or Turkish (Can Hatice), a jerky cartoonish march (Futurissmo), odd percussion effects (The Ghosts Of The Battle Cry), and lots of middle eastern sounds via French Horn, flute and clarinet.

So perversely original is this debut album that it's bound to throw most listeners out of kilter, sounding in part like rock for dervishes. The band perfom an unbalancing act, cleverly weaving myriad influences into weirdly wonderful patterns.

A rare experience.

 

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