In
music terms Augie March really is a strange bird. And a wonderful
one at that. Most of the time facing a group of songs you know where
they belong, what footprints led them to this point, what might
have been listening to or been influenced by on the way. Not Augie
March. There seems to be no precedence for this. Bang. There's Augie
March. But it's not a loud bang, it's more a gentle or stormlike
revelation. Obviously that's not totally true. There HAS to be some
kind of inspiration. No child arrives parentless. But this child
has arrived with its birth certificate obscured. There's more of
a clue in songwriter's Glenn Richard's own past. According to history
or self-created myth when songwriter Glenn Richards was 15 he was
the male half of the first recognised marriage of minors in the
state of Victoria. He married his 16-year old high school sweetheart.
But the marriage ended just one week later, when his love's carnival
worker parents left town. Carnival workers! We also know, more reliably,
that Glenn was studying literature when he started songwriting.
So Augie March doesn't come from an imagination influenced by the
race memory of years of rock and roll angst and lust, but from a
romantic soul who lost his heart to a carnival worker's daughter
and read literature. Glenn's songs are more like literature than
music you'll listen to. They export you to the world of his and
our imagination. To the city of ravens, where roses grow round the
edges of grand properties, and we wonder about riderless horses
and watch blank heavens. We visit with the people who live there
and relate to their experiences. That's Glenn Richard's contribution
to Augie March. Obviously a major one. But this is not a one man
band. He's surrounded himself with musicians devoted to painting
that vision in music, with whatever instrumentation they can lay
their hands on. As Glenn's lyrics take twists and turns with every
line, the music is just as evocative, forever mutating, adding to
the words as well as transporting them against their will. There
are elements of electronics and rock and roll ferocity, but largely
the world Augie March takes us to is one suited to stringed things
and reed instruments and piano. Literature 'told' by folk oriented
rock musicians! While technically a fine singer Glenn's voice is
used as another instrument, also at the mercy of the mood, the arrangement,
the effects machines. Augie March's first album 'Sunset Studies'
is still close to my CD player two years later, an album for almost
every mood, guaranteed to change your mood. 'Strange Bird' seems
to be even better. A dozen plays isn't yet telling me how much better.
It finds Augie March even more confident, finding new adventures
and new visions to extract from the land of their imagination. 'Strange
Bird' is darker in its dark moments, more powerful in its powerful
moments. Again there are songs you sing along to, others that defy
you. In between some songs live little musical interludes. Like
the songs the album is a complex interesting juxtaposition of thoughts
and ideas. Excuse me while I play 'Strange Bird' just one more time.
In
music terms Augie March really is a strange bird. And a wonderful
one at that. Most of the time facing a group of songs you know where
they belong, what footprints led them to this point, what might
have been listening to or been influenced by on the way. Not Augie
March. There seems to be no precedence for this. Bang. There's Augie
March. But it's not a loud bang, it's more a gentle or stormlike
revelation. Obviously that's not totally true. There HAS to be some
kind of inspiration. No child arrives parentless. But this child
has arrived with its birth certificate obscured. There's more of
a clue in songwriter's Glenn Richard's own past. According to history
or self-created myth when songwriter Glenn Richards was 15 he was
the male half of the first recognised marriage of minors in the
state of Victoria. He married his 16-year old high school sweetheart.
But the marriage ended just one week later, when his love's carnival
worker parents left town. Carnival workers! We also know, more reliably,
that Glenn was studying literature when he started songwriting.
So Augie March doesn't come from an imagination influenced by the
race memory of years of rock and roll angst and lust, but from a
romantic soul who lost his heart to a carnival worker's daughter
and read literature. Glenn's songs are more like literature than
music you'll listen to. They export you to the world of his and
our imagination. To the city of ravens, where roses grow round the
edges of grand properties, and we wonder about riderless horses
and watch blank heavens. We visit with the people who live there
and relate to their experiences. That's Glenn Richard's contribution
to Augie March. Obviously a major one. But this is not a one man
band. He's surrounded himself with musicians devoted to painting
that vision in music, with whatever instrumentation they can lay
their hands on. As Glenn's lyrics take twists and turns with every
line, the music is just as evocative, forever mutating, adding to
the words as well as transporting them against their will. There
are elements of electronics and rock and roll ferocity, but largely
the world Augie March takes us to is one suited to stringed things
and reed instruments and piano. Literature 'told' by folk oriented
rock musicians! While technically a fine singer Glenn's voice is
used as another instrument, also at the mercy of the mood, the arrangement,
the effects machines. Augie March's first album 'Sunset Studies'
is still close to my CD player two years later, an album for almost
every mood, guaranteed to change your mood. 'Strange Bird' seems
to be even better. A dozen plays isn't yet telling me how much better.
It finds Augie March even more confident, finding new adventures
and new visions to extract from the land of their imagination. 'Strange
Bird' is darker in its dark moments, more powerful in its powerful
moments. Again there are songs you sing along to, others that defy
you. In between some songs live little musical interludes. Like
the songs the album is a complex interesting juxtaposition of thoughts
and ideas. Excuse me while I play 'Strange Bird' just one more time.