Deep In The Shallows
After gorging on generic, bargain-bin chocky bars for too long, sinking your teeth into a bona fide Lindt ball is a truly religious experience.
Re-visiting The Church on this singles collection makes your palette appreciate the original recipe's beauty. Their shimmering guitars, echo chamber vocals, and eerie-cool atmosphere have been hijacked by heaps of young ‘80s revivalists. Yet Kilbey and Co. still stand out from the crowd, not just ‘cuz they're originators, but because they're great songwriters. Spin this baby a couple times and you're already humming along and a-twitter with anticipation.
Formed in Sydney in 1980, The Church's sound combined the ‘60s jangle of The Byrds with spare, dark, post-punk production, tight pop structures, and Kilbey's killer wordplay and laconic delivery. DEEP IN THE SHALLOWS is their first comprehensive multi-label collection. It's got favourites like ‘Reptile', ‘The Unguarded Moment', and ‘Under the Milky Way', alongside long forgotten goodies. The boys opened for The Pretenders last year, and damn they've still got chops. Need more convincing? Just heed the words of Anton Newcombe, who praised them in the liner notes of his 2004 album. "The Church (no, not the empty building where they fuck boys in the ass) Marty Willson-Piper and Steven Kilbey! I don't care if they cook up dog shit and inject it. They are the tops! Buy their albums now and listen." We couldn't have said it better
Release: Compilation
To Cure: A quiet weekend
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