Over the last decade, Melbourne-based producer / multi-instrumentalist Martin Kennedy’s All India Radio, itself something of an ever-shifting collective helmed by Kennedy, has carved out something of a distinct, not to mention consistently prolific presence amongst the Australian downbeat electronic landscape. It’s something that to a certain extent has also been aided by the frequent use of All India Radio’s music in feature films such as Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’ and TV shows ‘One Tree Hill’ and ‘Bondi Rescue’ – indeed one can imagine All India Radio’s smooth downbeat fusion of electronic and instrumental elements being like candy to soundtrack producers looking to inject some additional atmosphere into a poignant screen scene. This sixth studio album from All India Radio arrives just one year on from 2008’s acclaimed ‘Fall’ collection and once again sees Kennedy collaborating with a cache of instrumentalists that includes The Triffids’ Graham Lee, recent Bad Seeds inductee Ed Kuepper and string arranger Jen Anderson (Pandora’s Box).
As with ‘Fall’, it’s Lee’s distinctive pedal steel guitar contributions that really colour much of the 13 tracks gathered here, with opener ‘Solstice’ emerging from swelling warm synth pads and the distant flutter of programmed beats into the sort of widescreen prog-rock tinged atmosphere you might associate with ‘Wish You Were Here’-era Pink Floyd. If ‘Black Satin’ even manages to conjure up the countrified seventies soft rock of The Eagles (in no bad way) with its twanging steel guitar chords and rich horns, ‘Intrigue’ meanwhile manages to twist the mood in a completely different direction that fuses ominous electronics with dark jazz noir elements in what’s easily one of the cinematic-sounding moments here. Elsewhere, the haunting ‘Under Moon’ delves further into ambience, sending ripples of delayed-out guitar fluttering beneath subtly placed electronics and distant, trailing brass, before ‘Lo Fi Groovy’ shifts the mood closer to ‘Endtroducing’-era DJ Shadow with its clattering, lazy hiphop beats and twanging ‘Midnight In A Perfect World’-esque melodic chords. In the end, you’re left with another characteristically strong album from the ever-prolific All India Radio, that’s likely to particularly appeal to fans of Decoder Ring’s similarly widescreen atmospheres.
