Review: Darcy Hay’s No More Collie Valley
Darcy Hay
No More Collie Valley
Independent
Hailing from Geraldton, WAM Song of the Year nominee Darcy Hay’s second EP, No More Collie Valley, finds him at a crossroads; he has seemingly turned into his own purple patch. This may well be the dawn of a great new Australian storyteller.
As a lifelong passionate fan of old American music—especially all those ‘Blind’ guys—and a proper Aussie bush bloke at heart, combining these two distant and disparate inspirations could have found him in no man’s land. Hay has, however, channelled his creative instincts that recall American field hollerers and Tom Waits as much as they do kookaburras and Paul Kelly. The references in that sentence may sound hokey, but Hay writes a form of roots music that is of here, elsewhere and most importantly, within.
Opening track, Boundless War Blues—which may at first glance appear to be a comment on the era of global conflict we find ourselves in—is about an inner struggle, fighting voices and paranoia following an episode brought on by prescription medication. The horns bring a New Orleans shamble, while Hay’s intricate guitar playing and world-worn vocal bring a bittersweet air to it all. The wryness is immediately countered by Jo Jo, an acoustic ode written on a country road (a country ode?) to a potential sweetheart.
Greenough Fish Kill Event Blues originated from a fish kill in the Greenough River caused by farm run-off where algae blooms choke out oxygen in the water, resulting in thousands of dead fish. The music is often as desolate as the scene described; guitar, bass and drums lock in a blues groove that stops and starts and startles. Closing the EP is the gentle title track, pondering the inequities of the aged care system from the point of view of an elderly female nursing home patient. It’s a heartbreaker.
The stories are varied, but Hay can tell all of them; such is his storytelling prowess. With a move down to Perth apparently on the cards, things are looking interesting indeed.
BOB GORDON