Album Review: Another Round

Sin City’s Another Round is new music for audiences who know that music’s best days are behind us. From first note to rock n’ roll lifestyle, Kiwi songwriting duo Nick Armstrong and Jack Beesley with Aussie musicians Christopher Hockey, Andrew Blackman, and Cameron Hicks embody a bygone era, channeling those influences into original songs that cozy comfortably alongside your nostalgic country, soul and rock ‘n’ roll bangers of the 1960’s and 70’s.

The ecstasies and well-worn woes of women and drink wind through twelve tracks alongside all the other hallmarks of a classic rocking party band. The scene is set as sounds of the bar and a boogie-woogie piano give way to a Rolling Stones type takeover, replete with group singing to “I need another, I need another” in album opener, Gin & Tonic. Much apparent care was given to the order of songs on the album, and the Rolling Stones vibes carry seamlessly through in the vocals while a distinct Sir Dave Dobbyn style instrumental emerges beneath the serious bop, Am I The One You Love?.

More group singing plus outro improv and piano trickles between guitar heavy hooks has us firmly in feel good territory. Enter slide guitar! Tunes such as Big City Streets, Don’t Ask Me Twice, Girl From Monterrey, and Mamma Please Let Me In bring to mind Tom Petty, CCR, and the Eagles, while I’m Your Man and Loving Arms reveal the band’s strong pop sensibilities. This reviewer recommends finding a friend to yell “I fell” again and again with the David Byrne-eqsue outro on the latter. Essences of Split Enz, Kenny Loggins, Rod Stewart, and Meat Loaf make this feel like an album of long lost bangers.

Doubts about the band’s commitment to the times can be put to rest with the official single and music video for Candy. Picture an analogue studio, fender rhodes, 70’s aviators, long hair and staches, embroidered western shirts & psychedelic prints, a vintage Volvo, answering machines & digital car phones, chest hair, guns, booze, and a girl named Candy. Anyone having flashbacks?

For those still not convinced that this is the 1970’s come back to rock us some more, the album was made without a computer screen in sight! Recorded over four wintery days in a barn in the Castlemaine countryside, Another Round was captured on tape. While there are moments where the combination of time and analog constraints doesn’t pay off, the album overall succeeds in capturing the raw and vital live sound of this raucous touring band.