Nic Cester - Sugar Rush (2017)

Tracklist

01. Sugar Rush
02. Eyes on the Horizon
03. Psichebello
04. Hard Times
05. Strange Dreams
06. Who You Think You Are
07. On Top of the World
08. God Knows
09. Not Fooling Anyone
10. Little Things
11. Neon Light
12. Walk On


Nic Cester may have lost his head in the overnight whirlwind of Jet but he’s found his soul on this slow-brewing solo debut. While the Melbourne rocker’s retro sensibility remains unrepentant, his seasoned Italian band the Calibro 35 brings a more weighty range of feels to the party.

“Sugar Rush” signals the descent into vintage psych-r’n’b smoulder with a jazz-waltz beat, fuzz bass, electric organ and wah-wah. “Lead me to a higher place, fill my soul with love and grace,” our reborn journeyman pleads, and, by Otis, he’s halfway there already.

The timewarp envelops like an echo chamber as flutes and phasers lead us deeper, to the instant neo-psychedelic classic “Psichebello”, the mellow brass undertows of “Hard Times” and the prog-synth fanfare of “Strange Dreams”.

There’s more of an Eighties funk feel to “Who You Think You Are”, then a deeply melancholy orchestral interlude titled “On Top of the World” that shows a sense of humour blessedly intact.

“Is it all down to bad luck that I’m worn to the core?” he bawls in the bodice-ripping pitch of the album’s string-sawing epic, “God Knows”. It’s one of several lyrics that might be interpreted in the light of a prematurely wasted rock star, but Cester’s ear for classy production, his fuel-injected singing and brilliance as a songwriter consistently prove he’s anything but.

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