Audiophiles

Christian Pyle – Nothing Left to Burn

I recently had the unnerving experience of being unable to stop my ipod shuffling. I found listening to Neil Young’s Harvest or Cold Chisel’s East just wasn’t the same when the two orchestral pieces on Harvest (tracks 3 and 7) were next to each other or when the drum fill at the end of ‘Standing on the Outside’ (track 1, East) wasn’t followed by the drum fill at the start of ‘Never Before’ (track 2). In the old days albums had a track order and you didn’t mess with it. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a vinyl fondling luddite and am quite a fan of the single track download thing but Christian’s album reminded me what it is like to listen to an album.

For someone who’s day job is making records it is no surprise that Christian Pyle’s solo album is a cracker. From his home studio in Goonengerry Christian has produced albums for many local and further afield acts such as Jesse Younan, Renee Searles, Glory B, Billy, Luke Vasella, Jodi Martin, The Re-Mains, as well as his own bands Acre and Ghost Mountain. On this album, Christian does everything – sings, plays guitar, keyboards, drums, bass, some banjo, and (with some engineering help from Michael Worthington) weaves his magic mixing wand to create 13 tracks that are definitely an ‘album’, not just a collection of songs. In the single track download age Christian remains an exponent of the dying art of album making.

Variety in texture is one of the keys - some tracks start with piano, some with acoustic guitar, some a drum fill, one a wonderful dreamy effected Rhodes. There are the short (mostly) instrumental ‘ear fresheners’ (‘Ryuichi’ and ‘Green Goblin’) placed strategically in the playlist at 7 and 12 and the obligatory hidden track (well actually two spooky tunes fittingly on track 13 if you leave the cd running long enough). There is also the simple dedication to his Dad on the inside cover that gives me an emotional hook into the lyrics that seems to be an underlying theme for many of the songs. The songs are strong and the arrangements focus on supporting the vocal melody lines. Piano and guitar lines are often in unison with the vocal melody. Christian inhabits subtly different characters for each of the vocal performances that seem to embody each song. The rambling delivery of ‘School Without Dogs’ really suits the nostalgic stream of consciousness lyrics whereas the multitracked vocals of ‘Trees and Stone’ or ‘Ray of Your Sunshine’ really fit the singalong character. The chords aren’t complex but he does a great trade in the ascending or descending bass line and I’ve transcribed two examples here to illustrate this very effective device. Both use the B bass note to change between C and Amin and elsewhere he uses the F# bass note as the route between G and Emin. Well worth tinkering with on your next songwriting date.

PS – If you have a recent recording you’d like featured in this column please send a copy to me at PO Box 8136, Dunoon 2480.

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