- The 4th album from Sydney's sinister ensemble The Tango Saloon, Suspicion, lurks somewhere between gypsy-folk and cinema soundtrack, with noir aims that often land closer to European art-house territory.
Suspicion is peppered with these rousing cinematic moments, an inspiration that instigator Julian Curwin has always leapt to acknowledge, but where previous TS releases have focused on storytelling through instrumentation, the vocal domination here, while sombrely soulful, only ever hints at their previous whimsy, transforming their camper qualities into campfire tales. It's a subtle shift in paradigm but the effects ripple throughout the whole project.
Featured on more than half of the tracks, guest vocalist Elana Stone adds a haunting though wholesome aspect, untempered by the darkness that pervaded previous albums. The TS roster has always had a diverse rotation, including the not insubstantial shadow of Mike Patton, yet Stone's continual presence and influence on Suspicion creates a through-line that feeds into the group's narrative aspirations. While the purely instrumental tracks are great in their own right, they serve more as transitions between scenes, like a slow-wipe on screen.
Despite the tonal drift, the group are as tight and talented as ever, shifting easily between tropes while spinning their own threads into each yarn. There are sharp little nods on almost every track, from the obligatory tango to the obvious Morricone, but the most effective are the fleeting moments of self-reflection that bookend the album, so subtle as to be almost accidental, they nevertheless provide an almost holistic context to the band's body of work.
The titular opening may be slightly misleading, failing to foreshadow the timbre of the album, but Suspicion is unmistakably a Tango Saloon experience, though it feels a bit like going to the Wild West dressed for the Bolshevik Revolution, it's still a wonderful dance.

- Nic Addenbrooke.