Throughout its 20 year career, Midnight Oil has always managed
\nto weave through different trends of music and make it their own.
\nTheir
\nBlue Sky Mining<\/i> masterpiece hinted at the direction U2 took
\nwhen they made
\nThe Joshua Tree<\/i>. Their 1993 release,
\nEarth And Sun And Moon<\/i> followed the ‘stripped down,
\nminimalist’ trend followed by such bands as Nirvana and Pavement.
\nThey retained much of their signiature sound, so they never
\nappeared to “sell out” each time they shifted musical
\ndirections.<\/p>\n
Enter 1996. While Midnight Oil’s fanbase has remained strong,
\nthey haven’t had a huge hit since their 1988 single, “Beds Are
\nBurning.” With their move to the Work label, pressure on a new
\nalbum was minimal. What resulted was probably the most radical
\ndeparture of the band’s career. Part
\nAchtung, Baby<\/i>, part
\nSandinista!<\/i> and mostly Midnight Oil,
\nBreathe<\/i> threw a lot of people off when it came out. Even I
\nwas a bit worried when I saw the liner notes. In the “special
\nthanks” column, the Oils thanked producer Malcolm Burn for his
\n“approach and sensibility.”<\/p>\n
“Underwater,” the first track, opens with a scratchy, muffled
\nguitar chord. The most radio-friendly track of the bunch, lead
\nsinger Peter Garrett widens his vocal range on this track while Jim
\nMoginie and Martin Rotsey expand their guitar skills. The preachy
\nlyrics of some of their earlier works are still present, but on
\n“Underwater,” a more optimistic tone is present. “No one can make
\nher\/no one can break her down,” Garrett sings in that track. That
\ntone is picked up on the next track, “Surf’s Up Tonight.”<\/p>\n
Malcom Burn may not be the first choice you would think of as a
\nproducer, but the two worked together perfectly on
\nBreathe<\/i>. He made Patti Smith’s grief turn into a beautiful
\nalbum that year with
\nGone Again<\/i>. In
\nBreathe<\/i>, Burn seemed to push the Oils into taking every risk
\nthey thought necessary. That includes instrumental jammers,
\ncountryish ballads and even a guest vocal slot by Emmylou
\nHarris.<\/p>\n
The country toned “One Too Many Times” will no doubt take a
\ncouple of listens to get familiar with. Coming from a band who
\nreleased an album called
\nHead Injuries<\/i> and has produced some of the most intense,
\nurgent music of the 80s, it’s an unexpected turn for the band, but
\nit works. As does “Home,” a beautiful ballad that is able to fit
\ntwo very distinct voices in rock, Emmylou Harris and Peter Garrett
\ninto a very organic ballad.<\/p>\n
The familiar Midight Oil returns with “E-Beat,” an anthematic
\ncall for stating anew. “Gonna make amends for the things we’ve
\nsaid\/I hope that you understand me,” Garrett pleads. Drummer Rob
\nHirst makes the song even more memorable with his rock steady sense
\nof timing.<\/p>\n
\nBreathe<\/i> mixes acoustic and electrical guitar throughout the
\nentire album. Though this may not seem too remarkable, it’s
\nMidnight Oil’s most acoustic album of their career. It is also
\ntheir most demanding album for a fan to listen to. The album has no
\ninstantly hummable tunes as they have accomplished on albums like
\n10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1<\/i> or
\nDiesel And Dust<\/i>. It takes a couple of quiet evenings to get
\nacquainted with the changes Midnight Oil went through in making
\nBreathe<\/i>, but it’s personalable enough to merit repeated
\nlistens.<\/p>\n
“Bring on the Change” couldn’t have been a more appropriate song
\ntitle for
\nBreathe<\/i>. Though old school fans may have trouble adjusting
\nto their new style, Midnight Oil refuses to backtrack to their
\nearlier formulas. For a band that has been around for over two
\ndecades,
\nBreathe<\/i> makes its mark by breaking new ground. They have
\ngone through another departure with the confidence of a seasoned
\nband that has made its mark by their blazing live shows. Now, if
\ntheir next album is a techno album produced by Puff Daddy, fans
\nhave a right to worry. Until that moment comes, give
\nBreathe<\/i> a couple spins and find a band that is still going
\nstrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5774],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-35832","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-midnight-oil","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35832"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35832"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}