CD REVIEW: SUZE DeMARCHI – HOME

Shane | 22 September 2015 | Reply

CD REVIEW: SUZE DeMARCHI – HOME
Social Family Records
August 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7 1/2 /10

The Baby Animals frontwoman and driving force returns with her second solo album – the first being Telelove, released in 1999. Home isn’t a concept album, per se, though all the songs revolve around that theme – be they self-written, or covers.

DeMarchi seems to have conscientiously applied herself to not sound like her band, but in doing so she has lost some of the vitality that makes her Baby Animals work so essential. There is real artistry at work here, though, and no denying it, but it’s awash under the ebb and flow of too many soundalike atmospherics, especially in the first half.

The melody of Madness’s Our House is all but erased, and even Russell Morris struggles to make the song stand out. Home is presented in West Coast and East Coast versions, but either one would have done the trick rather than both. Come Home, Get Home and Hometown Glory similarly all stand out in their inoffensive unremarkability. The singer’s indomitable personality seems to have been put aside in favour of a journey firmly to the middle of the musical road.

The latter half of the album fares far better, though: Tex Perkins lends his deep, dark presence to Wayne Carson’s the Letter (previously a hit for The Box Tops, Joe Cocker, Amii Stewart and more) and fires our Suze up to great effect in the process. Barnesy and Diesel ensure The House Is Rockin’ has a barroom stomp jam feel to it, and The Clash’s Safe European Home (featuring Dallas Fresca) twists the punk anthem into a dub rock groove. With Mick Skelton on board Homeless is turned into a hymnal, closing the album on a sombre and moving note.

So, not vital, but definitely worth a listen, Home is a bold stab from one of our more talented rockstars, and even if it plays too safe in its first half, DeMarchi should be applauded for trying to do something different and interesting.

https://www.facebook.com/Suze-Demarchi-595765723775184