Steve Kilbey- Acoustic and Intimate.

Just heard the new C.D. by Steve Kilbey. He of Church and Jack Frost (with Grant McLennan of the Go-Betweens) Fame. This recording is of a solo acoustic performance he gave to a limited audience about song-writing and inspiration to celebrate the opening of a new venue for solo artists at Bondai Pavillion in Sydney.
The set starts with “Providence”, taken from the second Jack Frost album “Snow Job”. This was perhaps the most underrated and under sold album of the entire 1990’s. The song is simple, direct and inhabits its own space perfectly. Kilbey sing/talks his way through an intact detachment and allows others to drift in the wake.
The majority of the songs are Church releases. “Buffalo” from the recent “Hologram of Baal” album, stripped down and laid bare, works with far more impact than the original. This is also true of “Under the Milky Way” and “Hotel Womb”. Highlights include “My Little Problem”, an obvious self reference given his recent drugs related arrest in New York and the amazing “Tristesse” from the 1986 Stone Roses inspiring “Heyday” album.
As I have not heard any of his solo albums (apart from this one) it is difficult to comment on any of these tracks, suffice to say I now need to hear the originals.
In one of the bravest moves by anyone I have heard in a long time, Kilbey ends by singing excerpts from songs he wrote between the ages of 10 and 13. These are disconcerting to say the least, especially “Don’t Rely on your Friends”.
This release is I think only available through Karmic Hit records who have the coolest website, present company excepted, on or off the planet.