Issue 405

Blue King Brown

Natalie Pa'apa'a, co-founder of and co-songwriter with the award winning Melbourne based band Blue King Brown, has come up with her own definition of their style. After various critics' attempts at defining the rhythmic, rootsy sound the band produces and the intelligent lyrics it contains, she has decided it is its own brand of soul music.

"It's been called different things," Pa'apa'a explained when we discussed the question of whether one could call their lyrics political or socially aware. "I think across the board, people get an idea of what type of lyrics if you say political, which is not my favourite sort of term really, but people at least in this country seem to understand what that means. Socially aware is another way of describing it I guess, and another way again is - we just say it's lyrics from the soul, you know, from the heart and soul. It's soul music, essentially."

Air
Pocket Symphony
Virgin/EMI





I was really excited when I saw the new Air album at the dB office, mainly because not only are Air almost legendary as far as musical chill-out goes, but also they've never really put out a bad record. They just keep plodding along, doing what they do well, sounding oh-so-nice and changing the sound of each album enough for it to be something new and special. 'Pocket Symphony' isn't the spaced-out lounge of 'Moon Safari', nor is it the bizarre melding of soft emotion and furious bombast of their soundtrack to 'The Virgin Suicides', or the rather more song-structured '10,000 Hertz Legend'. 'Pocket Symphony' is a blissful extension of their sound - vocal-heavy, more songs than extended pieces, the tracks are atmospheric and strangely catchy, but still everything we've come to know Air to sound like.

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