deliverance

You Am I are the best Australian band to emerge in the last ten years. End of story. They might not sell as many albums as Alex Lloyd or Powderfinger, but this local rock institution continue to deliver albums filled with grace notes and characterised by rich, poetic songwriting of the highest order.

Coming hot on the heels of his masterful soundtrack to the film Dirty Deeds, singer/songwriter Tim Rogers has once again pulled some gems out of his song bag on the bone rattling Deliverance.

Put down in double time by the band themselves with no producer, the album is tinged with ramshackle beauty, from the sweet edged rock of “Words For Sadness” (also recorded by chanteuse Lisa Miller for her Car Tape album) and “Ribbons & Bows” to the thundering, ball-tearing attack of hard rumblers like “Who Put The Devil In You” and “Deliverance”, and the slithering groove of “One Trick Tony”. Rogers’ sweet, sensitive side is also exposed here with a string of trademark gorgeous ballads: “City Lights”, “’Til The Clouds Roll Away” and the divine close-out of “When You Know What You Want”.

Another classic from a band in their fearless, muscular prime. Masterpiece.

- Erin Free