Downsizing is now such a fixture in modern life that even all-for-one independent bands are doing it. The power trio, former arbiter of stripped-down rock efficiency, has been usurped by the power duo and the one-man home-recorded band. Add Tali White's name to the merciless indie-rock CEO list: the Lucksmiths' lead singer has pink-slipped nine employees from his side project, The Guild League, since their 2001 debut. The new-look Guild League are definitely leaner (now a tidy septet), but their elegant indie-pop is still about as far away from mean as a basket full of newborn kittens.
Anyone familiar with the graceful acoustic pop of the Go-Betweens or the Beautiful South will find that Inner North fits as snugly and warmly as a comfortable fleece pullover. These Aussies renounce the blustery "thunder from Down Under" ethos of their homeland's more cocksure exports in favor of hushed melodies and subtle whispers. They're the soft, sensitive yin to Jet's dirty, beer-fueled yang.
Lyrically, White ranks with the best of 'em. Like Morrissey and Mark Eitzel, he exercises a fluid economy with words and concepts, marinating each poetic couplet in meaning until it's practically dripping with imagery and emotion. His metaphors are florid but never cluttered, imbued with a distinct clarity of thought: "The car reads a curve as the road writes a crest / Slow-motion, the ocean is ironing its creases / Cotton-white seams on a blue-green dress." Lovely.
Musically, Inner North is a rolling breeze of gently-brushed drums, acoustic guitars, string swells and piano that wafts around White's resplendent voice. Rodrigo Pintos-Lopez's courtly guitar figures flash just enough personality to be memorable without tromping all over the delicate arrangements, and Cressida Griffith's cello adds valuable depth and texture. The mournful backing she provides to "Citronella"'s verses adds valuable weight to White's lighter-than-air vocals.
The songs themselves are first-rate, with themes of love and travel abounding. The swaying "Animals" is a treat, White's sighs of childhood past interspersed with tranquil "la-la-las" drifting on cello billows. Jangly guitars and a persistent bass line push "The Storm"'s verses forcefully toward the chorus, where they collide with brassy trumpets. Downcast closer "Shirtless Sky" sums up the album's ethos: thoughts of love and beauty tinged with a hint of melancholy, darkness bleeding in from the edges.
Inner North's greatest achievement isn't White's charming voice or the marvelously low-key arrangements; it's that this time out, the Guild League have tightened up the mushy hit-or-miss bits that marred 2001's Private Transport. They've approached their second album less as a side project one-off than as an actual band, turning in an accomplished and refined effort that doesn't sound like it was thrown together in an afternoon. Where their debut showed moments of brilliance amid its misfires, the follow-up is gentle pop genius from top to bottom. At last, a sharp side project worth giving up the day job for!
