The Common Touch is the seventh studio album by Australian alternative rock band Custard “Custard (band)”), released on 6 October 2017 by ABC Music.[1]#citenote-NLACommon-1) It was supported by the singles “In the Grand Scheme of Things (None of This Really Matters)” and “2000 Woman”.
Source: The Common Touch) by Wikipedia
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Some albums make you want move, I found The Common Touch a bit more subdued than some of their earlier albums, but it feels like this space gives the opportunities for the hooks and harmonies to really flourish. For me, it is one of those albums that the more I listened, the more I could not help sing along with.
“In the ’90s it was much more of an ongoing concern that we were a professional music group, so you had to constantly think about how to make people interested in you again. How could we get people to our gigs? How do we get songs on the radio? And none of those factors really come into the equation now. Now it’s like, ‘What’s the most interesting songs we can write and record and release?’ “
And there’s no shortage of those on The Common Touch, a varied and focused record that shows the band’s eagerness to move beyond their quirky slacker pop “golden days”.
“This is the first time I sat in my spare room in Bexley and just went, ‘Right, every day I’m going to sit down and make myself available to write songs.’ So for about three or four weeks, five days a week, I’d just sit in the room and make stuff up.”
Source: From the ’90s to now, Custard haven’t lost their common touch by Bronwyn Thompson
Sonically, The Common Touch is a mixture of the old and new. There is the familiar sounds, whether it be the lap steel and acoustic guitar, but there are also new ingredients (or old ingredients given more room), such as female harmonies, piano and harmonica. Interestingly, the mood of the music does not always match the songs.
Reading some of the interviews, one of the contrasts with The Common Touch was the speed it was recorded. Although the initial 30-40 ideas were carved out over weeks, the album itself was recorded on a weekend.
“Glenn also mixed the album and says it’s an old-school 70s retro album. You stick the headphones on at 10:30 at night, just before you go to sleep, and just cruise into it. All will be revealed with headphones – secrets and messages. It’s all very deep, like an onion.”
Source: Interview: Custard’s David McCormack sums up everything that’s ever happened in music with The Common Touch by Tim Byrnes
Tracklist
- In the Grand Scheme of Things (McCormack) – As with Come Back, All is Forgiven, The Common Touch too opens with a song beginning from the start. It also sets a similar slow groove. However, this is disrupted with the trumpet / harmonica solo.
- Hailey’s Comet (McCormack) – A slow groove reflecting on having a moment while watching Hailey’s Comet. It is another example of a song that tells a story, while captures odd moments.
- I’m not Well (McCormack) – This song introduces the big backing vocals, with the ‘ahhhs’ and ‘ohhhhs’ reminded me of Pink Floyd, although the song is not necessarily a Pink Floyd song. It maybe a soul thing, not quite sure. I also wonder how this song would sound mashed up with Tiffany’s I Think Were Along Now.
- Princess Highway (McCormack) – The slow beat, strings and lap steel help create a big airy feel that reminds me of Mercury Rev’s ‘Holes’. It creates a bed for McCormack to reflect and reminisce.
- Sinking Feeling (McCormack) – The introduction had me thinking of Blondie’s ‘Rapture’. I love the contrast between the driving bass in the verse and the chorus with its sing song lyrics. This is one of those songs that can be construed as both positive and negative, drowning or waving.
- You Always Knew (McCormack) – The loose talking lyrics reminded me of Robert Forster the Go-Betweens.
- Hands on Fire (G. Thompson) – Thompson with a song that gets your leg tapping away. Reminds me of Methyl Ethel’s talk louder the way in which it locks into the groove, but does not necessarily go anywhere.
- Armegeddon (McCormack) – just when you thought Custard could not rock out any more, that they have entered the world of ‘Adult Contemporary’ they crank it up just so you know.
- Dr Huxley Creeper (McCormack) – oh yeah and they can play up tempo pieces still too.
- 2000 Woman (McCormack) – This could almost be an LCD Soundsystem song
- Police Cars (G. Thompson, Wintah Thompson, Nellie Pollard-Wharton) – The chorus synth reminds me of Bigger Than Tina or Regurgitator. I was left wondering about ‘my’ communism. Interesting how one word can change everything.
- Take It From Here (McCormack)
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