Eddy Current Suppression Ring – ‘Rush To Relax’ review

Eddy Current Suppression Ring – ‘Anxiety’ (mp3)

It all began at the Christmas party of a vinyl pressing plant. Four men, Brendan Suppression (vocals) Eddy Current (guitars), Rob Solid (bass), and Danny Current (drums) came together to form what was come to be one of Australia’s most promising bands; Eddy Current Suppression Ring.

Before I was well acquainted with this band I happened to stumble across them during one of my first shifts at the Annandale Hotel – little did I know what I was in for. I was still fairly new to the art of pouring beers and I soon found Brendan Suppression’s shoes at eye level as he swaggered across the bar in front of me. A lot of Cooper’s Pale Ale was dribbling everywhere and the distractions just kept on coming. I was enthralled and before I knew it he had hurled himself off the bar into the riled up crowd of punters as the guitars grinded away in a Stooges like fashion. I walked away from that shift with a seven-inch and their second album ‘Primary Colours’. I was hooked.

A few months later and I have their third release “Rush to Relax” on high rotation.

While their influences are more or less front and center, Eddy Current have made a move to try something new on their third release, yet I found myself asking, ‘do I want them to?’ The lyrics are still somewhat naive, sometimes hilarious, sometimes ridiculous and always delivered in an Aussie accent that could be the love child of the narrator of VB commercials and Johnny Rotten. For the purists, the production is still distinctly lo-fi and bands like The Troggs and The Stooges are still stand out influences. Yet after two albums of two and a half minute garage gold, ‘Rush to Relax’ contains two ballads (well, as close as Eddy Current can get to a ballad), a few longer jam based songs and a song that finishes with 20 minutes of ambient beach noise, which is a surprise coming from possibly the most unpretentious band in Australia. ‘Rush to Relax’ was apparently knocked out in six hours. Perhaps if they gave themselves a bit more time they could pull together something truly brilliant; something more than great riffs, garage sixties fuzz and an Australian accent. The ballads, such as ‘Gentleman’ and ‘I Can be a Jerk’ lacked energy, and while the longer jamming based songs were enjoyable, tracks that lent themselves to the four-to-the-floor rhythms, stabbing guitar riffs and guileless vocals like the opener ‘Anxiety’ were easily my favourites, because they maintained the upbeat urgency of Eddy Current Suppression Ring’s first two albums.

Rush to relax is a good album, nothing more nothing less. But when you have musicians of such caliber, one of the best live shows in the country and a brilliant back catalogue, ‘Rush to Relax’ is ultimately a disappointment. This aside, it is better than half the releases from other Australian bands of late, it’s just that Eddy Current are so god damned good that this album should have been more than the middle ground, it should have been mind blowing. Eddie Current will be back in Sydney playing on the 9th and 10th of April, and will once again be gracing the stage of the Annandale Hotel. So do yourself a favour, regardless of whether you are a fan of the new album or not and come to the Annandale to witness one of the most entertaining live shows Australia has to offer.

www.myspace.com/eddycurrentsuppressionring