Covid has robbed us in the UK of Lachlan Bryan’s annual jaunt over here for the past two years, so a new album is hugely appreciated. It too was a victim of Covid, recorded fitfully as and when possible but it was eventually released in Australia back in September and now it’s available here. For those not in the know, Bryan and The Wildes reside around Melbourne down under and have released, over a decade, four albums which perfectly capture that element we call “Americana” with Bryan proving to be a superior songwriter who can easily summon up memories of Cash and Cave, The Go-Betweens and Merle Haggard.

Their last album, Some Girls Quite (Like) Country Music was Bryan’s attempt to, in his own words, “To make an adult-sounding country record,” which they did and to some acclaim. As Long As It’s Not Us has less country content but the regular tropes of love lost, melancholy and danger are all present and correct. While Bryan is the main songwriter, his bandmates, Shaun Ryder and Damian Cafarella contribute to the writing here, offering a more democratic approach but overall, it’s Bryan at the front end with the band offering stellar support in a variety of styles.

Unlike most of our reviews, we’ll start with the closing song here. Take It Out On Me is a classic Lachlan Bryan And The Wildes song. It’s a little bit country, a little bit LA Canyon, a whole bit enjoyable. There’s a glorious jangled guitar intro then the band lope along in a grand canyon style with freewheeling pedal steel while Bryan’s finely grained voice has just the right degree of lassitude and remorse. It’s a grand song and if the remainder of the album was like this then that would suit us just fine. However, much of what precedes Take It Out On Me is much more adventurous with the band moving into new territories, song by song.

The opener, OK To Love has an ache at the heart of it and is delivered with a power pop bash, reminiscent of Big Star at their best, while As Long As It’s Not Us has a hypnotic groove not a million miles removed from Wilco while its guitar and organ strut reminds one of the insouciant hipness of Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express. OK, we’re tossing names around here willy nilly, but they’re just pointers as Bryan and the band are in full control here. You Remind Me Of Myself takes these pointers and reveals itself via an insistent propulsive beat of guitar and organ with the rhythm section motoring along before a grand climax. However, just as the listener is getting acquainted with this funkier sound I Went Down heads into darker territory with a much harder edge. Written by Damian Cafarella, the song slouches and slowburns wonderfully while the lyrics come across as a trainspotters guide to watery murder ballads with Down By The River and Knoxville Girl both alluded to. In a similar vein, they head into Nick Cave territory on the haunting Quit While We’re Ahead.

There are no attempts to replicate Bryan’s mastery of the sad country love song (see The Basics Of Love) but he shines on the delicate ripples of I Found God and the excellent lovelorn ballad that is The Road. Meanwhile, there’s the shimmering beauty of Never Said A Word, a song polished and buffed so well but still retaining its soul. Radio friendly yet lyrically intriguing, it beguiles and fascinates.

As Long As It’s Not Us is more proof that Lachan Bryan And The Wildes are some of the best purveyors of roots based “Americana” treading the boards these days. The album is well recommended and if you hanker for more then there’s a live album, released digitally last year, which we would urge to have a listen to. It’s available here.

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Ever since hearing Lachlan Bryan’s solo album, Shadow of the Gun, back in 2012, Blabber’n’Smoke has always welcomed new music from this Australian troubadour. Schooled as a kid in Hank Williams by his uncles who played in bar bands and then inspired by the “alt-country” bands of the eighties along with a hero of his, Tom Waits, Bryan and his band The Wildes are one of Australia’s premier roots music outfits winning a prestigious Golden Guitar award for Alt-Country Album of the Year back in 2014 with their album Black Coffee.

Some Girls (Quite) Like Country Music is the band’s fourth album and it’s released here this week to coincide with a UK tour. It’s very impressive. Bryan and his Wildes (bass player Shaun Ryan and drummer/producer Damian Cafarella ) turn in an excellent set of songs, some dry and dusty, a few country waltzes tinged with a hint of sadness and some Willie Nelson like ballads. Several of the songs feature harmony vocals from Imogen Clark while Bryan’s warm voice duets with Shanley Del and with Lindi Ortega on two of the songs.

You kind of know that an album is pretty special when it kicks off with four spectacular songs and that’s the case here while Bryan adds to the tension as he tackles some weighty subjects on the first two numbers. The opening I Hope That I’m Wrong was inspired by the #MeToo movement with Bryan introducing the song singing,

“Women do what you must for there ain’t a man in the world you can trust to go into battle for the things that you need, things that you got a God given right to receive. And I’m afraid that it’s all to you I believe but I hope that I’m wrong.”

Sung over a simple acoustic guitar strum with a baleful bass line and slight washes of telecaster string bending it’s a protest song for today as Bryan goes on to add a litany of dismay on the environment and various injustices visited upon many of us these days. Things then get sinister on the creepy A Portrait of an Artist as a Middle Aged Man which slouches like some beast borne aloft on a cranky banjo with swathes of atmospheric electric guitar as Bryan sings of a guy in some mid life crisis and his Lolita like attachment to a much younger girl, the song suffused in premonitions of doom. The mood then lightens on the breezy Careless Hearts, a song which ticks all the boxes in how to write a country love song with Bryan singing the yearning words wonderfully while the band chug on, Bryan on piano guiding them while a wheezy harmonica puffs away. Next up is a delightful duet with Shanley Del on The Basics of Love, again a master class on how to write a country love song based on the template of George Jones and Tammy Wynette as two barflies join up while Bryan and Del swap this wonderful chorus,

“On the radio Waylon is preaching the basics of love, like pillars of wisdom descending on them from above, like gentle reminders of all that the things that they love, basics of love.”

These four songs are worth the price of admission alone but there’s so much more to enjoy here. Don’t you Take it Too Bad finds Bryan singing with Lindi Ortega on a wonderful tear stained waltz written by Townes Van Zandt and Van Zandt is recalled on the chilling Peace in the Valley. The spirit of Willie Nelson hovers closely around the piano led ballad of Sweet Bird of Truth, the downbeat Dobro driven tale of troubled teenage girls on Stolen Again and the closing Someone You Know So Well where Bryan and an out of tune piano limp along wonderfully. Finally there’s the hugely impressive The Cemetery Near my Hometown, a slowly unwinding cinematic song stained with the patina of Sam Peckinpah. Listening to this one can just imagine the stony visage of Warren Oates gazing on a lonesome hilltop of crooked wooden crosses as he prepares to meet his doom.

It really goes without saying that Some Girls (Quite) Like Country Music is an essential listen. We’d say it’s his best yet and here in the UK there’s the chance to see him and The Wildes over the next few weeks including two Glasgow gigs this weekend and two slots at Maverick Festival.  All dates here.

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