An Australian based in Italy and backed by a band of Italian musicians along with Elysian Fields singer Jennifer Charles, self-described as an atmospheric “fusion of roots music, electronica, Italian soundtracks and desert rock”, his sound, with the intimate, confessional muted growl vocals, has seen him likened to Nick Cave and Lou Reed but I reckon a more accurate comparison would be Tindersticks or the Americana desert noir of Alabama 3.
Message unambiguous from the title, it opens with the moody intro rhythmically chiming shared struggle, love song ‘Against The World’ (“Thanks for the blackouts, the break downs/The break ups, the tiny cuts & buttercups/The raven swoopin’ low/In this life/You and me against the world/I owe you all of it”), setting the album’s musical climate.
While there are tonal and pacing variations, there’s no huge deviation from that blueprint as everything unfolds, next up, Charles trading vocals, being the slow whisperingly sung ‘Broken Love’ (“Your big heart, they say it’s dyin’/Full of broken love”) followed in sequence by the existential crisis, piano and restrained military drum beats of ‘I Tread Softly’(“In my darkest hour just before the dawn/I was searching for a reason to go on/You gave me heart gave me conscience/In what I say, in what I do”).
Elsewhere, other highlights include the pulsating Americana wisped ‘Born To Fly’ (“The wanderin’ minstrel wanders but he is never paid/He cut off his connections with a razor blade”), the hushed and neurotic electronica of ‘45 In The Shade’ with its Titanic alluding uneasy lyrics (“I’m no charity for losers, there’s no bug on my rat/Every sweet tooth deserves a honey trap/The sun is setting & the moon is high/Your iceberg’s gettin’ fat under the water line/All you do gooders best beware/Let the band play on/Its hot out there”) and the cosmic philosophical psychedelia haze that is ‘Open Fields’ (“Target on my heart, we can only run/If we gotta run, run wild like wild dogs”).
It ends with, first, the dreamy synth-stroked ‘The Comet Drops’ (“We are bound together/When that sun falls from the sky”) and, finally, Simone Sandrucci on spectral banjo, ‘Dream Country Home’ where shaman shades of Jim Morrison (and perhaps Alan Vega) haunt lines like “Baby snakes sleepin’ deep underground/The barkin’ dog reminds me I’m alive/Crows sighin’ in the silent night/The bat, the owl, the sacred mushroom too” with its ode to the idyllic balm of rural living (“Drinkin’ wine & smokin’ weed/Listenin’ to the frogs’ simple song they sing/Long as we’re together we’ve got everything”).
Its slow burn lo-fi ambience and the overall similarity of the musical textures mean I Made It All Up For You is an album to be absorbed more than just listened to, the underlying shadows casting an air of unease amid the darkness, but if you’ve got nothing else for a long night of the soul this is a fine soundtrack.
Mike Davies
Artist’s website: www.hugoracemusic.com
There are now new videos but here is an oldie – ‘Mafia’ – live:
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