Australian threepiece Devastations return with this album, their first with new label Beggars Banquet. Opener ‘Black Ice’ hits on some Bryan Ferry and Grace Jones laid back funk grooves and appears to set us up for a trip in some dark, sexual moods. As is often the case the strength of the start is not always backed up later in the album and this one is no exception.
Apparently previously boxed into a genre known as orch-pop (with noirist tendencies) this album sees them attempting to expand beyond those early constrictions. At times they head for straightforward pop and la-la-la choruses as in ‘The Face Of Love’ but these show up their weaker elements and they do a better job of the more Radiohead tinged grafters such as ‘Rosa’ and ‘The Pest’ that are pushed along by thobbing basslines and whispered lyrics. ‘As Sparks Fly Upwards’ is another Ferryesque instrumental that powers along on waves of synths and pounding drums. This is what Devastations do best. The three minute pop songs should be left to others.
The theme of the album is apparently about big city life and all the sweat and sex that goes with it and it does at times provide a spacious and downwardly emotional landscape for night-time city living. It’s dark, thoughtful and immoral at times, though definitely not a downbeat bedsitting depresser. Big city living with a few quid in your pocket.
