4/5
Cape Hope.
The London Eye, sometime in my mid-20s. Me and my good radio DJ friend John are checking out the view when we get talking to some lovely Australians, here in the Big Smoke from Melbourne. We hit it off with these guys and end up heading for dinner. The three of them say they'll be heading to Manchester in a few days, to which I, with pleasant surprise, tell them is close to my hometown and where my sister lives. "I'll show you around!" That's when they tell me they're going to a gig that I might be into. A brother and sister act from their native Down Under who they'd love to introduce me to, in concert that is, Angus & Julia Stone.
Since that show, it's been love and forever friendships too. The pair remain one of my favourite acts, and not just Aussie ones (although from INXS to The Jezabels all the best music seems to come from the best place for soap operas and heroes, from Heath to Hemsworth). As for the three friends. We keep in touch on social media. I almost formed a band with one (don't act like Harvey Marlan isn't an awesome name for a band), whilst another was here in Tokyo a few years back. Separate to all that, I even had my own 'Santa Monica Dream' in Los Angeles, California that, like Tom Hanks in 'Saving Private Ryan', is just for me. I've been waiting for a new album for as long as the fans now, and I also can't tell you how much 'Sitting In Seoul' resonates with my heart right now for a group that sings for the illuminating 'City Of Lights' neons like a Jezabel, 'City Girl'. After self-titled classics and ones like 'A Book Like This' and 'Down The Way', Angus Stone and Julia Stone are back with their first album since the 'Snow' of 2017. Although Angus had us last with the Dope Lemon of 'Kimosabé' last year, whilst the queen of the stone age of Julia released 'Sixty Summers' and 'Everything Is Christmas' in 2021. Now, with the lyrics of the titular 'Cape Forestier' ("Oh, start for the sea/I won't see you leave/With Southport (hey, that's the name of my hometown I was telling you about) from sight/Go to the rising light.") on the warm artwork (see above) of their new classic, it's so good that they are back together on the family sofa.
Issuing us with inspiration from the Lemon Rock of Cape Forestier, Australia itself, the singing and songwriting siblings bring us one of their best albums to bear. In matrimony with singles like the dum, dum, da, dum march of 'The Wedding Song', or the other side of the Yin with the 'Losing You' break-up ballad, together again, the family is well and truly back home. 'No Boat, No Aeroplane' could take them away like Rolling Stone 'Wild Horses'. But there is a beautiful cover of Bob Dylan's sweetest and most simple ode, 'I Want You' that will remind you of what Springsteen meant when he said those straight-forward lyrics of "I want you so bad" are the realest and greatest because of how they are delivered. Like us from evil, or fear with the hop of this heavenly Cape like Cod. 'Life Is Strange'. One minute you're writing the soundtrack for a video game. The next, you're signing, sealing and delivering your first studio album in the seal of seven years. Produced by Ben Edgar and "holding a really special place in (their) hearts", 'Forestier' forests such gems like 'Country Sign' and 'Somehow'. From heading 'Down To The Sea', to dropping 'My Little Anchor', it all sounds so beautiful like the instrumental curtains of 'The Wonder Of You' like a Sinatra swansong. It's like they say in 'Seoul', baring theirs, "I'll be coming home soon/We'll be lying on the couch/Telling each other stories," back again. This famous fifth album will be accompanied by a world tour from way Down Under to the Union Jack eyes of London, Manchester and more. Ending back home in Queenstown. So just maybe, off a 'Big Jet Plane', I'll see you again, my friends. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'City Of Lights', 'I Want You', 'Sitting In Seoul'.
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