WAMI award winning Perth band chalk up a captivating debut
by: Grant Currall
The Kill Devil Hills’ confident and brooding debut album.
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The brooding swamp-noir of Changin’ the Weather is the first unnerving step into The Kill Devil Hills alternate country universe. Grinding and heaving under the subtle influence of lo-fi maverick Tom Waits the tune sets a tone for the album that is almost cinematic in scope.
The showdown swagger of Gunslinger cuts to the haunting stand out Angry Town with singer Brendan Humphries crooning over the top of a sonic landscape reminiscent of The Dirty Three in their quieter moments.
The title track hums menacingly too, like a cross between Leonard Cohen and Tex Perkins, as Alex Archer’s violin twists and wails through a background of vocal layering and gothic lyricism. You can almost picture the lonesome drifter disappearing over black plains with the damned souls of his victims such is the atmosphere this band exudes.
To describe the sound is something of a confusing exercise but as singer songwriter Brendan Humphries puts it, “Its old blues music, its old country music, its old folk music…that’s been channeled through some sort of rock, punk, swamp thing.”
Glad we got that straightened out.
“Each song is treated on its own terms, but there’s a loose cohesion there. There’s a couple of beautiful quiet songs…and then a lot of noise. I think we’re trying to put a variety of songs on it and not channel one particular sound.”
The middle section brings gospel blues in the form of The People Stain, a catchy tune with just a hint of old Hothouse Flowers. The Triple J and crowd favourite Drinking Too Much, follows with bittersweet harmonica reminiscent of Neil Young. Percussionist Steve Gibson takes over here on vocals with a rasp that suggests gravel and tequila have become common place in the bands kitchen.
By now my throat’s dry and I get the impression my waitress has flagged down a stagecoach running south of the border.
But 6=5 grabs back my attention, dragging me into Nick Cave territory with a somber throb that reverberates like a funeral mantra. Piano and violin interject with a touch of banjo on the Maurice Flavel composition to give it a sullen beauty that keeps it from falling victim to its own misery.
Brendan Humphries relationship with Flavel stems from the two having played in The Gutterville Splendor Six, a group that became well known in Perth’s local scene. Their self titled EP took on myth of it’s own after release when it was picked up by British DJ John Peel and the likes of Tex Perkins and Henry Rollins were cited as fans.
Trying To Forget About You brings back some country swing and gospel blues as the crusty groups backing vocals meld with guest female Selk Hastings fragile harmonies. Archer’s violin again takes pride of place alongside acoustic, slide guitars and piano. This track is probably the most traditional country song on the album.
The beautifully stripped down Brown Skin simply features two acoustic guitars and a faint piano with guest guitar back slapper Robin Mavrick on board. This quiet number oozes the feel of late night sessions in half empty saloons hailing last calls for alcohol.
Kill Devil Hills on the other hand plays like a band riding out next morning with the galloping bass, rambling rawhide drawl and squealing clarinet rustling them out of last evening’s malaise and onto the next one horse town.
Interestingly this WAMI award winning band derives it's name from a chapter title in former Rolling Stone editor Griel Marcus’ book The Invisible Republic concerning Bob Dylan’s, among others, place in the history of American roots music. As Humphries says, “He’s like a psycho-geographer of American music, right from its folk origins through to present day and really traces a lot of the growth of contemporary rock and rolls sounds.”
“There was a chapter called The Kill Devils Hills…it had that sort of gothic country ring to it that I really like…[it] cemented a certain tone for the band. The hills thing is what really got me because two of us that started the band grew up in the hills here.”
This local release really grows on you by the second or third listen. The sheer variety of heartfelt lyrics and shuffling rhythms makes this debut stand apart from the commercial pop of recent country albums, and their squeaky clean leads, with a rich dark sound that begs further investigation on repeat listens.
It’s exactly what I’m doing when I finally notice my drink has arrived. Only then do I realize there’s a tumble weed in my coffee. Chances are everyone will want one.
