DAVE'S DIARY - 11 JULY 2006 - HORSWOOD CD REVIEW
TAKING
THE CHIN OUT OF CHINCHILLA
"100 points of identity lay across the table in front of me/ I've
got my name, the clothes on my back/ my old guitar and an empty bottle
of jack." - 100 Points - Gina Horswood.
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Chinchilla
became known in song when singing actor Chadwick Morgan joked he lost
his wick to the melon and cane-growing father of a lass he courted.
But, six decades after the Sheik Of Scrubby Creek's "cruel coming
of age," the town has ignited double trouble.
Gina Horswood, 20, and sister Melanie punctuated university studies to
cut debut disc Our Way (STR) featuring 12 of their original songs.
And, with regional and community radio support and vast video clip exposure
on Pay TV channel CMC and Nu Country TV, Horswood draws attention to its
family roots 300 kilometres west of Brisbane.
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Such
success is deserved - Gina began writing songs at 13 and doesn't beat
around the new bush to nail her messages. Her imagery is superb, with a wind compass - "this town don't move too fast, goes around in circles just bringing up my past." The songs are true to pure passion of traditional country without corn quotient. Sibling harmonies exude dual dynamics with Michael Flanders production ensuring no burial in a sea of guitars and drums. They entrée with joyous biographical Home, Jesus & My Mum segueing into debut single 100 Points. |
Superb sequencing
finds the guilt fuelled but assertive nocturnal booze lament One Of
These Days paired with regret charged Something So Right.
Morose fragility of Who I Am and fiddle driven Broken are
reprieved by optimism in a jaunty When I Hold My Baby and maternal
triumph of the title track.
Narratives are equally accessible - Gina penned climatic Ain't Seen
Rain impacts with the same clout as when the sisters combine for the
magnetic pull of Home.
The heartworn highway of Too Far Gone - not expat star Catherine
Britt's famed title track - eases into whiskey soaked finale Cowboy's
Fool.
Horswood drifts into MOR but guest fiddler Matt Harrison and Flanders'
dexterity on mandolin, pedal steel, dobro and banjo and Gina's acoustic
guitar are a rootsy rudder.