40 ° In The Shade
Independent
The recent re-appearance of seminal Perth outfit The Rosemary Beads back on Perth stages has come with another bonus – singer/guitarist, Tim Underwood, has finally given a proper release to the solo album that he has been working at over the years. Underwood is nothing if not total; when he played in the Beads and Valvolux back in the ‘90s he was prominent, in some respects a dominating presence, But when he withdrew from the Perth music scene, it was a total withdrawal for a long time and that’s why it’s so good to place this album on and here a song like Echo come out of the speakers – a strident mix of cheek and world-weariness, catchy melody and darkness. The second track is entitled The Story Of My Life, but in many ways it could’ve been the album title as that sentiment appears in pretty much all the songs. Wry assertions, regrets, absurdities and perhaps some amount of peace being reached through songs such as Kiss Fuck Fight, Temper, Time To Go and Totally Fucked, a repetition that says on simply thing (yet so much more).
It’s good to have Underwood back and at it. He deserves an audience now as much as he did then.
BOB GORDON
