Darker With The Day

This morning's episode features an interview with Mick Harvey. Five Ways To Say Goodbye, Mick's latest album, was recetly released by Mute Records and soon he'll be touring the country with The Saints 73-78, playing Brisbane on the 23rd, 24th and 25th November.

Plus the following review, featured just prior to North Of The Border by The Hard Quartet.

The Hard Quartet: The Hard Quartet (Matador)

Released 4th October, 2024

The Hard Quartet are The Traveling Wilburys for the post-grunge generation. Comprising Emmett Kelly, Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney and Jim White, there isn’t enough space to list all of their respective projects, but if you know, you know and if you don’t, rest assured that each member possesses a formidable musical resumé. Kelly, Malkmus, and Sweeney share bass, guitar and vocal duties, whilst White drums and also contributes some vocals. This fluid approach to instrumentation results in a sonically diverse record and a supergroup free of the usual rock-star egotism.

Teasing the —then-unnamed— project earlier in the year with a series of posts on social media, the group settled on the name The Hard Quartet and officially announced their self-titled album in July. From the get-go expectations were understandably high and a series of single releases prior to the album’s release did little to diminish expectations. Earth Hater, Rio’s Song and Our Hometown Boy, gave listeners the first taste of what the group’s combined talents were capable of. Arguably —and somewhat ironically— these three songs are some of the album’s weaker moments. This says more about the quality of the rest of the record than the songs themselves, but they are so heavily reminiscent of much of Malkmus’ other work that upon first listen one could be forgiven for mistaking them as an unreleased Jicks outtake or a Pavement b-side.

A double album that runs for almost an hour, The Hard Quartet has no shortage of twists, turns and surprises. Where it truly shines is when the group leans into the diversity imbued by the sum of their parts. Surprisingly soft and subdued, Killed By Death is a musing on mortality, tenderly sung by Sweeney and propelled by White’s incredible drumming. Conversely, Renegade is a two-minute punk thrasher eerily reminiscent of The Germs, but with slightly less snarl. These two songs speak to the diversity of The Hard Quartet and their ability to incorporate a wide variety of styles while still managing to create a cohesive final product.

Closing out the record is a hat trick of highlights that showcase the band’s ability to allow each player the space to be heard. North Of The Border, Thug Dynasty and Gripping The Riptide are masterful exercises in restraint that manage to sound equally loose and refined. North Of The Border and Gripping The Riptide each have an experimental edge that shares some similarity to White’s recent collaborations with Marisa Anderson, whilst Thug Dynasty invokes the slacker swagger of early Pavement. 

Having learnt from the missteps of similar acts, The Hard Quartet demonstrates that mutual respect is key to any great collaboration. Clearly, they are friends first and bandmates second and this foundation of friendship is what makes their debut album so special. Far from being a cynical cash grab orchestrated by a greedy manager or record company executive, The Hard Quartet is the result of four mates coming together to indulge their creative instincts while relishing the opportunity to create something exceptional.

Nick Stephan