- The Go Set are a band primarily known for the folk-punk / celtic-punk thing, right? Anyway that's what I was thinking right up to and including listening to the first single for this, their 5th studio album. That song, Drums of Chelsea, is a rollicking folk-punker about saying farewell to the old country and shipping out to 'New Sydney' with the drums of Chelsea still rolling in your ears. Sounds like a trad. tune although I don't know if it actually is. Anyway, listening to the record as a whole I can tell you that you don't get much more like that. I'm not that bothered, honestly. I hope I don't hurt too many feelings if I say that I've often found The Go Set are missing something I want from a folk-punk band. Sometimes they don't have the requisite punch. The sort of thing you can reliably expect from the Dropkick Murphys or Aussies like Mutiny or their descendants The Currency: folk-punk with a fire in its belly. Two albums back on A Journey for a Nation the band worked with Mick Thomas of Weddings Parties Anything and he infused a pop-rockier not to mention folkier feel into that record which, well, it didn't quite work for me. The Go Set obviously wanted a change after it, too, and 2008's Rising was a Radio Birdman covering reassertion of punky roots that made me a bit happier. Interestingly they put out a live album back in 2010 which is a well-rounded collection of all their work to date. In its way this latest self-titled affair has a similarly wide-ranging approach. Another new producer, Paul McKercher, who has worked with You Am I, The Living End, Midnight Oil and Something For Kate brings another distinctly new element to the band's sound. Listening to a track like Television Education I was already thinking of the Oils before I knew McKircher was behind the boards. justin Keenan's broad Aussie vocals mixed with a muscular but listener-friendly guitar sound produce the kind of pub friendly rock that's been a staple of commercial radio since the '80s oh and to round out the Oils comparison you've of course got The Go Set's heart-warming, lefty politics. Rather than being an anaemic alternative to folk-punk it actually kinda works. Maybe this is what The Go Set are meant to be doing? Still, they try a bunch of other stuff too. All Our Friends has a go at a bit of Clash-esque pop-ska-punk, another perfect excuse for a little politicking, too. On tracks like Speakers Distort or Change The World by contrast, it's all American punk: smooth and melodic with catchy as hell choruses. You get all of that on this record but it doesn't leave very much space for folk-punk. I wonder what Lachlan McSwain is doing now? Usually he'd be playing the bag-pipes, but you'll be hard-pressed to hear a violin or mandolin here and when you do hear the pipes they're way back in the mix. Does he carry the drinks, now? I wonder about making this album a self-titled one. It's like The Go Set have got here and they're saying 'these are all our possibilities - this is where we could go'. I wonder what they will do now. They hint at some exciting and in some ways unexpected possibilities. This is an interesting moment for the band and one that will keep me listening for what comes in the future.

- Chris Cobcroft.