Rhythms Magazine

On the epic two-part 11-minute Twilight of the Night – Eden, Shane Labady’s lead vocals recall Peter Gabriel, matching the grand sweep of a song that shifts seamlessly from the poignant tragedy and pointlessness of war to the personal and simple hope for a better future after all that’s gone before, the last couple of minutes even segueing into Lennon’s Give Peace A Chance before returning to the stirring, heartfelt closing refrain: “Can we find Eden?” There’s another subtle musical nod to the later Genesis in the synthy introduction to the otherwise amiably cruisey country rock of One More Time, itself more Crowded House than Garth Brooks or, perhaps more appropriately Keith Urban, despite referencing Nashville and Hank Williams, a classic driving song, the protagonist trying to make up for something never meant to hurt.

That’s the beauty of this collection. All original songs written by Adelaide songwriter Paul Irving and recorded with his band The Chards over several years, it’s obvious he’s immersed himself deeply in the lexicon of contemporary rock, pop and country from the past 30-odd years, with particular reverence for the late ‘70s early ‘80s, from LRB to Foreigner and well beyond, so that slipping on this album is like snuggling up to a loved one and cruising along to a much-loved mix tape. That’s real craftsmanship, taking and mixing familiar elements into new, catchy, powerful songs that feel like they were always meant to be there as you raise your fist and pump the air singing along. And it’s obvious it’s all been a deeply-felt labour of love, Irving’s sense of drama and dynamics propelling it all along, taking you, say, on Man In Her Dreams, from a whisper to a roar and back again without losing any momentum or resorting to the grunge idea of dynamics – soft/loud/soft/loud – the arrangement creating the perfect aural backdrop to a tale of love and loss.

Irving and the Chards can also just push it hard and riffy, as they do on Living is Killing, with its simple plea for honesty, or deliver straightahead rock’n’roll (Fingers Do The Walking), rollicking country shuffle (Kicking Up A Storm or Ride On), shuffling stride boogie (Ride On, complete with one huge female backing harmony wailing us out) or take the rock ballad road of Shipwrecks in the Night or the self-explanatory True Love. There are songs to inspire, like C’est La Vie, where the tragedies told are devastating but where, somehow, there is a way forward; and songs of simple celebration (Mighty River). But the coup de grâce really is the anthemic Twilight of the Night – Eden, worth the price of entry alone. All up, this is one of the strongest debut albums in the classic sense you’ll hear from anybody anywhere this year.

Michael Smith, Rhythms magazine