I have to confess to knowing pretty much nothing about White Williams before getting this review disc. I put it on and was immediately punched by the opening of ‘Headlights’, sounding remarkably like the intro bass and drum pattern from INXS’ ‘I Send A Message’. The song itself follows its own course with random electronic buzzes and Joe Williams’ voice drilling the memorable melody home. ‘In The Club’ followed with an almost identical chordal structure to the opener, but slowed down and some T-Rex guitar bluster added for good measure. Then ‘New Violence’ jumped up the tempo and it all came to me. I’ve been humming along to this track for quite a while now on the radio, its slightly odd chorus rhythm reminding me of Mental As Anything’s ‘The Nips Are Getting Bigger’, and I really love it.
Australian 80s references? I doubt Joe/White has an intimate knowledge of these things from his New York perch, but still, they serve as a reasonable reference point. There is a definite retro-ism to his electro-pop. More reasonable would be to expect that Williams has heard and integrated Another Green World era Brian Eno, reflected both in the timbre of his singing voice and in the purity and directness of his production and melodicism. But ultimately, the album is unmistakably a product of New York, from the synthetic postpunk-funk of ‘Going Down’, ‘Violator’ and ‘Smoke’ to the New Wave guitar strains of album closer ‘Route To Palm’.
All this referencing makes Smoke sound unimaginative, but it’s actually quite the opposite. A mix of tinny electronics, guitars and solid bottom end are endearing. A melancholy undercurrent, heightened by the sound of Williams’ voice, gives depth and a sense of shade vs light. It’s pop classicism that Williams references more than specific artists and, while it’s been fun playing spot the original, as a whole the work sounds fresh and continually interesting.
Adrian Elmer
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