polaroids of androids

Sydney's theredsunband are a great band. Their sound, built around multi-layered harmonies laced over often stark, haunting landscapes, is not only their own unique style but also very rarely misses connecting with the 'sweet spot'.

Opening track and recent single, Like An Arrow, triumphantly heralds the return of the band and showcases a fresher, more upbeat side to their normal down-trodden style. It's an instantly infectious song and, like much of the record, sees the vocals step forward a lot more than in their previous work.

As brilliant as the opener is, with the exception of a handful of other highlights, this record never really feels like it kicks into gear. Too many songs seem like they could have been injected with a lot more shifts of pace or momentum instead of simply following a somewhat stale and even forced path. This is never more apparent - or disappointing - than on tracks like Won't See You, Steer Your Helm Away and It's So Heavy which threaten to burst out from the band's comfortable fragility into either a triumphant emotional eruption or darker territory - but never do.

The album's highlight, the Devestations-ish cover of Smog's Bathysphere, puts forward a lot more emotion and the, almost Bjork-like, vocals perfectly compliment the heavy-breathing rhythm and explosive moments. As a whole, the track sounds a lot more alive and less forced than the rest of the album. This song is also significant as it kicks off the much darker, and far better executed, closing of the record.

In a similar vein to Bathysphere, the final two tracks, Hymn To An Empty Room and Lonely Children, create a fantastic contrast between the often gentle vocals and a deeper, more over-powering, aggressive backing. This rawer side, although still following the band's well-worn blueprint, is a lot more enjoyable than the first portion of the record where the group primarily build the songs around the way in which the vocals interact with the more pop-focused compositions. The lyrics fight their way to the top of the louder backdrops, which gives off a great sense of pain and struggle, perfectly suiting the often ghost-like vocals.

While this album is far from being offensively bad, it does see the group spend far too much time trying to decide whether or not they want to create a horrific, scary and completely engaging record or just a bunch of songs that the kids can tap their feet too. There is the possibility the band can do the impossible and blur the line between the two conflicting approaches, unfortunately The Shiralee isn't the record that achieves this.