Tim Rogers
An Actor Repairs
Four Four / ABC / Universal
Tim Rogers is a prolific songwriter who likes to keep busy. When he’s not fronting the legendary You Am I (who released their 10th album in late 2015) – he always seems to be working on some project or other. Over the years, he’s collaborated with The Bamboos, The Temperance Union and Tex Perkins just to name a few. As a solo artist, this is technically his fourth album since he recorded the Australian country-tinged classic What Rhymes With Cars and Girls in 1999 with The Twin Set – though each one of these records has been quite different in itself. An Actor Repairs however, may well be seen as his most definitive and personal yet.
Rogers wrote the album over a two year period, and it was originally conceived as an accompaniment to a performance piece about an ageing actor’s retirement from the stage. The plan was to develop the songs with an orchestra, but the script was eventually disregarded, and Rogers reworked the material to form the basis of this record, stating that he “worked on this album more than anything I have in my career.”
In sound and style, it’s vintage Rogers and in a way a sort of spiritual follow-up to What Rhymes With Cars and Girls and is also reminiscent of You Am I’s classic 1996 album Hourly Daily, which was the first time Rogers really explored a more acoustic sound and worked with orchestral arrangements.
On this record Rogers works with a talented ensemble, most of whom have worked with him on various projects previously such as the stage adaptation he produced of …Cars and Girls. The ever-present Davey Lane lends a hand and Rogers’ collaborator over the years, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Shane O’Mara, played a part in developing and arranging the songs, giving them a rich, full sound.
The album starts off with The Bug, which commences with a rising hum of bowed strings, finding their note together, much like an orchestra warming up, before some heavenly female harmonies come in, setting the tone perfectly for what’s to come. A lush, warm sounding backdrop upon which Rogers paints his pictures, with his gently strummed guitar and unmistakable voice. “There’s a phrase they say, you’ve been hit by the bug / I’d call it something much closer to love”
There’s a lot familiar to enjoy here for fans of Rogers songcraft, but he also explores a side of himself we haven’t really heard much before – the songs are reflective, emotive and dramatic and one could imagine the play it may well soundtrack.
No one quite does Aussie suburban storytelling and imagery like Rogers and this album features some of his finest lyricism. The Umpire’s Son is a simple, charming ode any man could relate to – about that boy at weekend footy games down the local oval who never played much but helped out behind the scenes “He’s slicing up the citrus with a knife / Tomorrow he’ll be hanging out your whites.” Rogers revealed in an interview with Xpress (LINK) that the song was autobiographical to an extent, as his father was in fact a footy umpire when he lived in the Kalgoorlie Goldfields in his youth.
Youth is another prevalent theme, and also the title of the first single. It’s a beautiful song and one of the best Rogers has written in years. He says it was a tune that was reworked many times til it found itself. “It’s a song about a character lifting themselves by the elbows out of the well-spring and accepting the waters won’t cleanse them of their sins. It was written four times, first as a skiffle, then a torch, then a lament, ending as an enthusiasm. If this song came in a dream, knock me out forever.”
As Youth grows and swells towards its majestic outro, the band really shine and show their worth; Brett Wolfenden on drums, Davey Lane on bass and Rai Preirera on percussion form a solid basis for the gently strummed rhythm guitar and wavering slide guitar. What gives it that real magic touch though are the lush female vocal harmonies provided by Xani Kolac and Clio Renner backing Rogers.
Another highlight and one where Rogers shares lead vocal duties is One More Late Night Phone Conversation – a heartfelt and honest love ballad and duet between ex-lovers. A Time To Be Lonely is a sobering and swinging little piano bar joint. The Twin Set album is also referenced a few times – A Mother Daughter Thing would sit very comfortably on that record and more directly on the closing track Cars and Girls where Rogers fittingly finds some lyrics that rhyme with “Cars and Girls”.
As the album title alludes to, Rogers explores the analogy between actor and musician, reality and character, and seems to relish the grey area in between. It’s in these spaces where Rogers seems to be comfortable, and the elder statesman seems to have hit his stride here, with his impassioned crooning sounding vital as ever. His voice has aged in a way that it’s become worn yet comfortable like your favourite old shirt, smoky like fine scotch though a bit faded and tatty round the edges.
An Actor Repairs is a well thought out, mature record from Rogers – one you can tell a lot of time and love has gone into – and one that rewards you more with every listen. Hopefully one of our country’s favourite sons wont be retiring from the stage any time soon, because he’s still sound as ever.
ALFRED GORMAN
