''Gala Mill'' is the third studio album by Australian band
the Drones, which was released in September 2006. Recorded in an abandoned mill in
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, it was their last album to feature founding member Rui Pereira and the first to feature Mike Noga on drums. The music, which makes "an epic leap beyond
garage rock
Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...
", adds influences from
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...
and
contemporary folk
Contemporary folk music refers to a wide variety of genres that emerged in the mid 20th century and afterwards which were associated with traditional folk music. Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from tradit ...
music to their usual
punk blues
Punk blues (or blues punk) is a rock music genre that mixes elements of punk rock and blues. Punk Blues Genre AMG Allmusic.com, Retrieved on May 21, 2008 Punk blues musicians and bands usually incorporate elements of related styles, such as pro ...
style.
Gareth Liddiard
Gareth Liddiard (born 20 November 1975) is an Australian musician, best known as a founding member of both The Drones and Tropical Fuck Storm. Musically active since 1997, he has also released a solo album titled '' Strange Tourist'' in 2010 ...
's lyrics for the album are centered more on Australia's
colonial and recent history, evident in tracks such as "Jezebel", "Words From The Executioner To Alexander Pearce" and "Sixteen Straws".
Much like its
predecessor, the album received critical acclaim from sources both within and outside Australia, with much of it centered on the album's raw musical style and Liddiard's dark lyricism. It was also their first album to enter the top 100 of the
ARIA Charts
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
& their second to be nominated for the
Australian Music Prize
The Australian Music Prize (often shortened to the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The award was made by Australian Music Pri ...
.
In 2010, ''Gala Mill'' was listed as one of the ''
100 Best Australian Albums
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
'' of all time, while a year later it would be voted by the band's contemporaries & "industry experts" as the 19th best Australian album of all time. The album would also go on to be included on ''
Rolling Stone Australia
''Rolling Stone'' Australia is the Australian edition of the United States' ''Rolling Stone'' magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture, published monthly. The Australian version of ''Rolling Stone'' was initially published in 197 ...
''
's list of "The 200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time".
Recording
''Gala Mill'' was recorded in a mill on an isolated farm on
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
’s east coast. Barking dogs and birdsong are heard between tracks, and the island’s history is heavily referenced throughout the songs.
The place was secured through a friend of drummer (and Tasmanian native) Mike Noga's sister, and was built by convicts in 1842.
The album was recorded by
Aaron Cupples, a "good friend" of Liddiard. He recalled that the band wanted "an honest and uninvolved" sound, similar to
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
's ''
Tonight's the Night'': "I wanted
..not to 'hide' the process of recording from the listener
..all the drop-ins and drop-outs are all just laid out bare." He recalled a
crossfade 2 minutes into the track "I'm Here Now" for the drop-in of a new guitar part, which you'd normally make a fraction of a second to hide it, but he left it quite long to make it sound "like a
volume swell that you can do on a guitar with the volume knob". The band also spent a lot of time "placing the drums in the right spot so they sounded big", which ended up being in the middle of the room and lent the recordings "plenty of
low end". The sessions, mixed down to tape, had a similarly "straightforward" mixing process, with no
compression
Compression may refer to:
Physical science
*Compression (physics), size reduction due to forces
*Compression member, a structural element such as a column
*Compressibility, susceptibility to compression
* Gas compression
*Compression ratio, of a ...
being used and plug-in
reverb
Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...
being used sparingly. The mixing, done a year after the sessions were recorded, was completed in "two days flat".
[
]
Content
"Jezebel", "the slow, roiling eight-minute opener ..coiled to bust loose at any moment", deals with topics such as "the death of journalist Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who worked for ''The Wall Street Journal.'' He was kidnapped and later decapitated by terrorists in Pakistan.'
Pearl was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and rais ...
in the Middle East, nuclear testing in the Australian homeland, and a massacre that is infamous in Aussie history". The track has been described as a "roller coaster" and as "one part love song to nine parts apocalyptic nightmare" featuring allegorical
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
lyrics. According to Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus (born June 19, 1945) is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics.
Biography
Marcus wa ...
, the "delirious" song "seems to suck all the chaos and horror of the present moment into a single human being, who struggles to contain that world inside himself". He described the choruses as "unnerving" and found the band's performance on the song overall as a "shocker".
The track "Dog-Eared", featuring slide guitar
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...
has been described as "Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
's "Cortez the Killer
"Cortez the Killer" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young from his 1975 album, '' Zuma''. It was recorded with the band Crazy Horse. It has since been ranked No. 39 on '' Guitar World's'' 100 Greatest Guitar Solos and No. 329 on '' Ro ...
" crossed with Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...
's '' Boatman's Call'' album" in which "the kind of love revealed ..is so vulnerable that it becomes abusive". The "even slower" following track, "I'm Here Now" deals with "drug addiction -- observing it, not participating in it." Bernard Zuel writes that the track "brings to mind the more intense moments of the Triffids
The Triffids were an Australian alternative rock and pop band, formed in Perth in Western Australia in May 1978 with David McComb as singer-songwriter, guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboardist.McFarlane (1999). Encyclopedia entry fo"The Triff ...
." The song "Words from the Executioner to Alexander Pearce", "the first of two epics that delve into the slaughterhouse that was Australia's early history" references Alexander Pearce – a convict-bushranger who escaped Sarah Island's penal settlement on Tasmania's west coast with seven fellow convicts in 1822. He was executed in July 1824 after a conviction of cannibalism during his escape attempts. In the song, " Liddiard inhabits the executioner's mind for a discussion of guilt, empathy, experience, forgiveness, and jealousy." "I Don't Ever Want To Change", the "fastest and jauntiest number" on the album featuring "mutant Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
leads and open-chorded riffs", features lyrics that "tells he story
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
of a depressed shopkeeper who burns his business down for the insurance money" in "trying to commune with nature." "Work For Me" is the first ever Drones track to feature Fiona Kitschin on lead vocals. "I Looked Down the Line and I Wondered" takes its title from a song by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Sister Rosetta Tharpe (born Rosetta Nubin, March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was an American singer and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her Gospel music, gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spir ...
. "Are You Leaving For The Country" is a cover of a song by Richard Tucker, made popular by his wife Karen Dalton
Karen may refer to:
* Karen (name), a given name and surname
* Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors
People
* Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand
** Karen languages or Karenic l ...
.
The album closes with "Sixteen Straws", which is the band's second lengthiest studio recording till date (after " The City"). The first verse is lifted from the traditional song, "Moreton Bay
Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...
". According to the liner notes: "To avoid damnation by suicide, groups of catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
convicts would draw straws, the long and the short decided the deceased and his killer." The song "carefully paints a scene in colonial Australia, backed by just the faint sound of guitars, a harmonica, and areth'sown spittle". It has been called "The Drones’ masterstroke ..the standout track of ''Gala Mill'' ..the story of men forced to kill each other to save themselves" with its story being compared to '' The Proposition''.
Release
The album was released in Australia on CD through Shock Records
Shock Records (now part of Shock Entertainment) is an Australian independent record label.
History
The three founding members had all previously worked in music retail or distribution: Williams for a Melbourne distribution company called "Musi ...
. ATP Recordings
ATP Recordings is a British independent record label that was started in 2001 by London-based concert promoter Barry Hogan of Foundation/All Tomorrow's Parties. It was originally created to bring out a compilation cd (ATPRCD01) after the Tortoi ...
released the album on double LP
A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
and digipak
Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage.
Jewel case
A ...
in the UK and the US (the former was solely released in the UK). It was issued in the UK on 8 October 2006. A music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
(the band's first) was made for the track "Jezebel" and released on YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. It was described by ''The Aquarian Weekly
''The Aquarian Weekly'' is a regional alternative weekly newspaper based in New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1969, its focus is rock music and related events in the New Jersey/New York City/Eastern Pennsylvania region. From 1986 to 1992, it ...
'' as "apocalyptic ..rustling up mostly old black and white film marked by torture, punishment, and wartime oppression."
Reception
National
''Gala Mill'' received positive reviews from the Australian press. Jeff Glorfeld of ''The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' wrote that "he band
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
made another lbum even better, dense, tense ..and yet - frenzied?" and praised Liddiard's lyrics. Bernard Zuel of ''Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' wrote that Liddiard's "grasp of a dark vision is utterly compelling, fierce and poetic, unseen in these parts since the days when Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...
merged Flannery O'Connor
Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries.
She was a Southern writer who often ...
and the ''Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
'' while the early Bad Seeds let loose the hounds of hell", though the "understated grandeur" of their music set them apart from other similarly influenced bands.
International
The album received a Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
score of 87, indicating "universal acclaim" based on 6 reviews. Seth K of ''Tiny Mix Tapes
''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...
'' wrote that "humility rules n this album and what makes ''Gala Mill'' so impressive is how The Drones wear their emotions on their sleeves and how naturally everything spills out", calling Liddiard "passionately belligerent" and comparing him to "storyteller(s)" of the likes of Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...
and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
. He described the band as "radicals, patriots, and lovers, all rolled into one." Brandon Stosuy of ''Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
'' wrote that ''Gala Mill'' finds the "band mak(ing) an epic leap beyond garage rock, giving Gareth Liddiard space to spin his dark, literate, history-rich yarns." He ended his review by writing: "New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
has Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...
, Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, Craig Finn
Craig Finn (born August 22, 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the frontman of the American indie rock band The Hold Steady, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums. Prior to forming The Hold Steady, Fi ...
, and Liddiard's painterly sense of place and nation is equally stirring. You get the sense he could kick both the Boss and Finn's asses, actually." Tom Gilhespy of ''Gigwise
''Gigwise'' is a British online music news site that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets and video content. Founded in June 2001, the site is based in London, England.
History
Gigwise was launched in 2001 ...
'' called it "a murderous wonder" and "the most self-consciously Australian album in years ..also one of the most important". Mike Rea of ''Contact Music
Contactmusic.com is an online magazine of cultural criticism based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, and ...
'' called it "excellent stuff. ..A swaggering Stones
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's o ...
-y rock feel combined with raw and loose blues mess and moments of remarkable beauty, The Drones are capable of making great music whose rough edges aren't just left in, they are actively embraced and put front and centre." He also compared the band favorably to Beasts of Bourbon
Beasts of Bourbon were an Australian blues rock band formed in August 1983, with James Baker on drums (ex-Hoodoo Gurus, The Scientists), Spencer P. Jones on guitar (The Johnnys), Tex Perkins on vocals (Dum Dums), Kim Salmon on guitar and Boris ...
, concluding: "there is a great sense of meditative, brooding, elemental rock. Gala Mill is an excellent calling card for what may be Oz's best band."[
A mixed review came from Ali Maloney of '' The Skinny'', who suggested that the album was cashing in on the then recent success of '' The Proposition'' through its sound and lyrics, sarcastically describing it as " od haunting dust bowl rock for those days spent sitting on a log swigging whiskey and drinking beans out of the can."][ Writing for '' Brainwashed'', John Kealy called it "a solid release with some very strong songs that the band should be proud of but I’m afraid I’m still waiting for The Drones to produce their masterpiece." He criticized some of the songs as being "a little overstretched" and also compared the album unfavorably to the band's live performances: "With ''Gala Mill'' The Drones still haven’t captured the rawness and the power of their live show. It is frustrating listening to their studio output after having experienced them first in the flesh. The fly-on-the-wall interludes of the band talking in the studio (which become terribly annoying) suggest to the uninitiated that this is what The Drones sound like when they just belt out a song but it isn’t. Speakers should be melting when the CD is playing but alas they just get mildly hot." '']Exclaim!
''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
s Dimitri Nasrallah called it " worthy 2006 follow-up to a great 2005 album, but those new to the band are advised to start off at Wait Long."
Awards
The album was nominated for the 2006 Australian Music Prize
The Australian Music Prize (often shortened to the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The award was made by Australian Music Pri ...
- the second year in a row that the band had been nominated, with '' Wait Long By The River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By'' winning the previous year - but lost out to Augie March
Augie (sometimes spelled Auggie) is a nickname for variations of the name August, which derives from the Latin name Augustus. It may refer to:
People
*Augie Auer (1940–2007), meteorologist
*Augie Galan (1912–1993), Major League Baseball play ...
's ''Moo, You Bloody Choir
''Moo, You Bloody Choir'' is the third studio album by the Australian indie rock band Augie March. It was released in 2006 in Australia by BMG. It entered the ARIA album charts at #10 and was nominated for Album of the Year at the ARIA Music Aw ...
''. They were also nominated for Most Outstanding New Independent Artist at the inaugural AIR (Australian Independent Record Labels Association
The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (commonly known as AIR), formerly Association of Independent Record Labels, is a non-profit trade association which supports the growth and development of Australia's independent recording i ...
) Chart Awards.
Legacy
Accolades
In October 2010 ''Gala Mill'' was listed at #21 in the book, ''100 Best Australian Albums
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
''. In a poll organized by Triple J
Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...
in 2011 where "some of the country's top musicians and industry experts ere asked oftheir favourite Australian albums of all time", ''Gala Mill'' was voted #19 out of 100 entries. In 2014, the track "Sixteen Straws" was included by ''Flavorwire
''Flavorwire'' is a New York City-based online culture magazine. The site includes original feature articles, interviews, reviews, as well as content recycled from other sources. ''Flavorwire'' describes themselves as "a network of culturally con ...
'' on their list of "The 50 Best Album Closing Tracks in History". In 2021, ''Rolling Stone Australia
''Rolling Stone'' Australia is the Australian edition of the United States' ''Rolling Stone'' magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture, published monthly. The Australian version of ''Rolling Stone'' was initially published in 197 ...
'' included ''Gala Mill'' at #155 on their list of "The 200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time" (one of two
2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...
Drones albums on the list), with James DiFabrizio writing that it saw the band " xpandtheir vision to the feverish, eloquent rock’n’roll dirges that would go on to define their legacy in Australian music."
Academia
Two songs from the album - "Words from the Executioner to Alexander Pearce" and "Sixteen Straws" (alongside "The Radicalisation of D" from Liddiard's solo album ''Strange Tourist
''Strange Tourist'' is the debut studio album from The Drones and Tropical Fuck Storm frontman Gareth Liddiard. The album was recorded inside Blackburn Castle in New South Wales over the first half of 2010, and was produced with the help of Bu ...
'') - were chosen as the subject of a research paper by Joseph Cummins titled ''An Archipelago of Convicts and Outsiders: The Songs of The Drones and Gareth Liddiard''. Published in '' Southerly'' in 2012, the paper argues that these songs "perform a remapping of the space of the Australian colonial convict myth ..forming a cartography
Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...
that expands the scope of the myth beyond the confines of the Australian continent, locating it within a global carceral archipelago. The rich vein of historical and mythical material in the songs enables an examination of the connections between the past of Australian colonial history and the present of global imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
." In this context, he finds the executioner from "Words from the Executioner to Alexander Pearce" "giv ngparticular attention to what he sees as the hypocrisy of the chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...
, here figured as a metonym
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...
of colonial society." He also finds his final words "mark nga complex spatial figuration according to the executioner, Pearce is at home in exile. Additionally, the first line of the final paragraph, “we were meant to meet”, indicates that Pearce is also fated to encounter the executioner, and therefore Pearce is, in a sense, at home on the scaffold, the machinery of death." "Sixteen Straws" "takes up the spatial concerns of “Words” and, moving them to Moreton Bay, focuses on another facet of the abject otherness of convict experience. .. Through five verses the song tells of the cruelty and brutality of the colonial penal system
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correct ...
, the grim desperation of convicts attempting to escape lives of misery, and of frontier violence involving the surprise attack by local Aboriginal people on the infamous Commandant Logan. This reversal of the normal order of things equates life to the insignificant “straws” of the title of the song, exemplifying the way that space has been transformed by carceral and colonial systems of power." "In reinventing and extending “Moreton Bay” as “Sixteen Straws”" he writes, "The Drones have re-inscribed a nineteenth-century landscape of exile, opening an abject space of otherness within the convict story."
Track listing
''Gala Mill'' UK release
All tracks written by The Drones unless mentioned otherwise:
Personnel
Adapted from liner notes:
*Fiona Kitschin – bass, xylophone, vocals, lead vocals (track 6), percussion
*Michael Noga – drums, harmonica, vocals
*Rui Pereira – guitar, vocals
*Gareth Liddiard
Gareth Liddiard (born 20 November 1975) is an Australian musician, best known as a founding member of both The Drones and Tropical Fuck Storm. Musically active since 1997, he has also released a solo album titled '' Strange Tourist'' in 2010 ...
– lead vocals, guitar, melodeon, recording, string arrangements
Additional credits
*Dan Luscombe
Daniel Francis Luscombe is an Australian guitarist, producer and composer. He has been a member of The Blackeyed Susans, The Drones, Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males, Stardust Five, Spencer P. Jones & the Last Gasp and Paul Kelly and the Boon ...
– slide guitar
*Michelle Lewit – violin
*Spencer P. Jones
Spencer Patrick Jones (28 October 1956 – 21 August 2018) was a New Zealand guitar player and singer-songwriter from Te Awamutu. From 1976 he worked in Australia and was a member of various groups including The Johnnys, Beasts of Bourbon, Paul K ...
- cover image
*John Ruberto - mastering
* Aaron Cupples - mixing, recording, bass (track 8)
*Dan Campbell - photography
*The Downie Breitkreuz Group - art direction, design
Charts
References
External links
Official music video for "Jezebel"
{{Authority control
2006 albums
The Drones (Australian band) albums
ATP Recordings albums