Aria-winning Adelaide band The Audreys’ much-anticipated fourth album won’t disappoint their fans.
Most of the songs on ‘Til My Tears Roll Away are country-rock and a few are ballads, with Taasha Coates on vocals and guitar, Tristan Goodall on guitar and lots of other talented musicians who join in for various tracks.
The vocals, while melodic and beautiful, have a haunting, mournful edge which reflects the fact that the songs are often about unsuccessful love. The choruses are catchy and you soon find yourself singing along.
The first track, “My Darling Girl”, has shades of Neil Young with its definite guitar beat, driving bass, crashing cymbals and serious violin. The final bars of this song express the disappointment of being let down by another when “Daddy” says “I’m gonna love ya till I leave this world” but then he fills a house with whiskey and home-made wine.
The more I played ‘Till My Tears Roll Away, the more the songs grew on me and the more variety I discovered. “Baby Are You There”features some rocky bass work and excellent lead guitar riffs, and again there is a chorus, of “knock, knock knockin’ … at your door” that gets inside the mind, with Coates’ haunting vocal qualities lingering long after the track has ended.
The Audreys are a real mixture; they can play rock and then move into something sweet and melodious, as in “Keep Your Company”,with its Dylanesque philosophy and turn of phrase, but all the while being pleasing to the ear. “Ballad for the Fallen”, written in rhyming verse, is a slow, mournful ballad that combines poetry with powerful rock rhythms to create a modern anthem.
Ben Wiesner’s drumming is classy throughout but particularly so on the title track, “Roll Away”; his work, with the guitar solos and Coates’ vocals, is reminiscent of the distinctive pulsating beat of Fleetwood Mac.
Then, surprisingly, there’s “Comfort Me”, a return to the ’50s with its vocal, bop she wah back-up and use of the spoken word; it’s the Audreys having fun and while they are doing so they are creating a track that evokes another era but is performed for now.
“Lady Luck” could be mistaken for an early Beatles number, with its drumming, simple chorus and easy lyrics, although it’s a little slower and softer vocally. In another gear and style, “Come On Back to Bed” begins with some funky bass guitar, then quickly switches into a classic riding-on-the-range country and western, clip-clopping beat as Coates sings, “You said I was the only girl you’d ever love”, and she sighs and groans the seductive cowgirl chorus: “Hey baby, come on back to bed”.
‘Till My Tears Roll Away is quite an achievement: from the opening song, the tone of the album has a sense of loss and of love not running smoothly, but the essential underlying philosophy is “that’s how it goes”. And, despite the Audreys’ country-rock roots, there is less of an attitude of “you done me wrong” and more of “pick yourself up, carry on and keep strong”.
This is an album of great beauty and diversity. The lyrics speak of romantic, intimate love, of being lost in love and unrequited love; it’s gentle and rocky, slow and fast; it’s nostalgic and it’s modern; it is one and it is collective, funny and serious – a little bit like love itself.
The Audreys are currently touring Australia on the back of their new album and will play at The Gov in Adelaide on July 11.
