Wanderlust Review # 4 (October 2006)

All this talk how music has been democratized by digital & internet technologies with the power moving from the major record companies back to the artist. And much debate about how even though more people are making music than ever before the quality standards have dropped. But just occasionally one can stumble across new music which breaks the rule.

WalktheTalk is a rare breed of hushed bedroom poet whose songs drip with inky ambience and elegant simplicity. Clearly he is not trying to make a play on top of the pops. There is a broad palette of sound at work here; at the core are organic stringed instruments and vocals wrapped lushly in electronic textures. Scratchy and lo-fi in parts but full of nuance and detail. Bare instrumentation and meticulous arrangements parsing out hauntingly beautiful and affecting melodies. This is not easy music.

Recorded in France with musical luminaries such as Goldenboy (Elliott Smith, The Eels, Spain, Neil Finn) and Stuart Miller (Alex Lloyd) during the winter of 2005. The process involved the songwriter compiling all his travel journals, notes and music tableture penned on the road over three years. We are drawn into this musical travel-logue which captures people and places with an acute observers eye. That he is able to extract the most out his DIY home studio approach using just an analogue 8 track recorder and mac digital protools set-up is exactly how much of much of contemporary music is being made nowadays. Power to the artist.

This is great traveling music. As Halliday sings on Moving On, which could easily become a classic road song:

"bye bye , leaving now

without knowing why or what's left behind

keep on going, out to the west, behind the wheel

all will be clearer in my rear view mirror, moving on"

Wanderlust is a diamond in the rough, a lovely spec of gold in the indie longtail. Sometimes the best things really do come to you when you are not looking for them. Without a doubt my favorite CD reviewed this month and it will be the first thing I pack after the Lonely Planet Guide to Asia for my next overseas travels this Christmas.