by New Gods
Beloved is the brand new release for Melbourne indie band New Gods. The 10-track collection of songs has been released as an online cassette – a format that’ll make a whole lot more sense if you visit the website belovedalbum.com
After a short textural and choral introduction we begin the album proper with acoustic piano and the melancholic ‘Beneath the World’. In many respects this track sets the tone for the entire album, for while the instrumentation may vary the overall mood stays downbeat and introspective throughout. Every once in a while New Gods push harder and we scale the heady heights at the conclusion of ‘Too High’, and at other cathartic moments nestled within otherwise sombre tales of love and loss.
I have a personal disposition to gravitate towards longer tracks and on Beloved we hear eight-and-a-half glorious minutes of angsty spoken work on the track ‘Caravan Park’, a narrative work of bleak personal tales and understated heartache. It’s truly a fact that you simply cannot have shade without light – and on ‘Joy & Pain’ New Gods peel away the clouds and reveal moments of illumination, abruptly brought back to earth however with devastating effect.
This is not an album that’ll have you leaping around the house or imagining long drives on an open highway. Instead it’s a collection of beautifully crafted songs for those times when you really just want to be left alone. Thankfully New Gods at least allow us the indulgence of an epic, gospel-blues finish to bring it all home.
Beloved is available for free download at www.belovedalbum.com
Owen McKern
Program Manager
PBS 106.7
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