- Melbourne’s excellent Left Ear Records have just dropped another stellar archival release - a compilation of music by Peter Westheimer. This constitutes the first retrospective of Westherimer’s work, consisting of tracks recorded from 1981 to 1993. There are songs from his first album Move, and its follow-ups Sooner Than Laughter and Transition, in addition to six previously unreleased tracks.

Throughout his life Westheimer has occupied a number of interesting roles. From a young age he exhibited his creative aptitude, At age 18 he was a violinist in the Australian Youth Orchestra and leader of the Victorian Junior Symphony Orchestra. He broke the shackles of classicism in the late '70s: punk and its offshoots affording musicians a new found freedom, in addition to his involvement progressive theatre groups. At this juncture he picked up the electric guitar, keyboard, synthesiser, sitar and flute.

Westheimer's recording career began in 1982, and led to the release of numerous albums, video clips and soundtracks. His initial output could be categorized as synth-pop, but as he developed these labels become less useful, his work traversing the realms of dance, ambient, house, neoclassical and world music.
So what's on Cool Change? Album opener Walking On The Edge is an off-beat dance number. Its bassline reminded me of Atomic Dog by George Clinton, but reimagined for a dystopic Australian future. This feel is also present in the tracks Elastic Smiles, Cool Change and Fog, with their drum-machine driven grooves and spoken vocals (I’m a sucker for a broad-Aussie accent). Many of the songs are also underpinned by the distinct sounds of the Yamaha DX-7. The blissful, drum-less ambience of Rainforest, Simple Man and Cadaghi Dreaming evoke the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto and other Japanese musicians.

Westheimer's output is definitely a singular one – it’s unlike any of his Australian contemporaries of the time. His sound seems to have influenced current Aussie acts though, the song Personality Change prefiguring the horn-tootin’ sounds of Andras Fox and Zanzibar Chanel. Either way, Left Ear has pulled through again, giving us an intriguing picture of an Aussie anomaly.

- Hill Folk.