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Forget Yourself Review in Q magazine (UK)
Jangly '80's Aussie rockers push back the years. Three months of casual jams in a studio doesn't sound like a promising basis for a good album. True, there's little new stylistically in these ethereal, dreamy guitar songs - it's The Church's 17th album, after all - but the results are remarkably strong. Seductive melodies, spacey atmospheres and spangling guitars are propelled by solid but sympathetic drumming, while typically oblique lyrics, peppered with elusive romantic images ("empty houses full of scents") and mysterious movie-like scenes, benefit hugely from the urgency of live energy and less studio trickery. Their best album in years, showing there's magic in guitars and tunes yet..... Ian Cranna 3/5 starsForget Yourself review; Amplifier, January 2004
"this album sounds confidently refreshed and relevant...Forget Yourself validates the subtle magic delivered with Starfish"User Reviews:
Sydney Opera House - Jul 28th, 2003
Like cheap wine, most bands are too shallow to age well. The Church, on the other hand are Grange Hermitage, each year adding more depth and intensity to their musical capabilities. Not many bands remain together for more than 20 years, fewer still manage to keep creating eclectic and exciting music without the benefits of mainstream success. A devoted worldwide following has helped sustain The Church during the 90's, with many overseas fans making the trip to Sydney to hear a preview of their forthcoming album Forget Yourself. The Studio is perhaps the perfect venue for the band : intimate and attractive, with great sound and a beautiful harbourside setting adding to the ambience.
From the opening grinding riff of the superb Sea Line, to the closing harmonies of the catchy 60's-influenced new single Song In Space, this is clearly The Church reaching a new creative peak. If their previous studio album After Everything, Now This was all languid, ethereal beauty, then their new album promises to expose a more intense, raw, edgy side of the band than has previously been seen. The Church have always been fortunate to boast two guitarists of outstanding ability, and their new songs allow both to display their unique gifts. Telepath highlights the understated, elegant guitar of Peter Koppes while See Your Lights is a teasing rocker that allows the more flamboyant Marty Willson-Piper to shine.
Against a wonderfully evocative psychedelic slide show, at once dreamlike yet disturbing, they contrast the meandering, mystical Radiance and the poignant Chromium, with the earthier new songs Nothing Seeker and The Theatre And Its Double. It is amazing to watch them move with consummate ease from the cerebral to the sensual, but then The Church's music has always been about embracing ambiguities. Drummer Tim Powles, who has revitalised the band in the past decade, is in fine form tonight and as always there is Steve Kilbey's dark voice, soothing or scathing through refreshingly enigmatic lyrics.
The past is briefly revisited with the potent Destination and the yearning masterpiece Under The Milky Way, described by Steve as "part albatross, part goose that laid the golden egg". The delicate After Everything and the resonant Numbers show why their previous album was hailed by many fans as one of their greatest achievements, while the closing single Song In Space synthesises Revolver-era Beatles with a big glam stomp to produce pop perfection. From the opposite musical side of the band comes the encore Magician Among The Spirits, an epic soundscape that is sparse, eerie and ultimately mesmerising.
It would be so easy, not to mention far more lucrative, for The Church to drag themselves round the traps like so many other 80's bands, cranking out their Greatest Hits. After 23 years together, it is truly inspirational that they choose instead to follow their own path, creating music that is both intelligent and complex yet gloriously accessible. Forget Yourself could well be the album that reawakens mainstream interest in this criminally under-rated band, where mature musicianship combines with ever-youthful passion. When they tour later in the year - run, do not walk, to buy tickets.
Julia
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