BIG HEAVY STUFF.

DEAR FRIENDS AND ENEMIES,

Drum Media, March 9, 2004
CD of the Week

It's interesting to note that with each album, the name of the band is perhaps less musically descriptive. But conversely, Greg Atkinson's words seem to go even deeper into various big and heavy human conditions.

BHS have learnt the value of space in their music, and on this album Atkinson's words reach a similar economy. His lyrics are often just fleeting impressions, but get the point across: "If I were captain, this would be Mutiny". There is no doubt that this is a relationship going to hell.

This ongoing realisation of less is more could almost be ironic when you consider what a fine 'rock' band Big Heavy Stuff is: Carolyn Polley is a gloriously abrasive guitarist, but knows both when to stand back or cradle Greg's emotional keening. Similarly, Kennedy and Fish are a rhythm section capable of big thump and beat, but only flex that muscle when necessary, like as the repressed violence of I Should Have Seen This Coming inevitably happens. Polley's guitar is let loose here too, in scarily accurate tribute to Heart's Nancy Wilson.

But to me it's in their quieter moments that BHS drag you in. Like in the self-explanatory One Day In Your Life Gone where the ticking metronome of the original demo vocal could be a heart beating away the seconds. Or Billy, where you can only walk away from someone who seems to be running away from feeling.

They even manage a gently swinging pop song about the wisdom you get with age. I See Things is kind of sad, kind of triumphant, and everyone sings along in the chorus. But if you really want to feel one of those empty silences of loss, go to Goliath - Atkinson's short reflections ("It's a nice day/To set you free") set simply against Sophie Glasson's cello - there is a melancholy beauty to it, before the album regathers itself to the kind-of-happy ragged choral of So Your News Can Reach Me.

What it comes down to is BHS have delivered another collection of their singular muse, and again, damn good it is.

ROSS CLELLAND

Sun Herald, February 29, 2004
8/10

Long-time Sydney indie favourites, Big Heavy Stuff's fourth album is further proof of Greg Atkinson's ability to capture the mood of a moment, stretching it to an emotional breaking point and then ghosting away. Like Radiohead's guitar opus The Bends, Dear Friends And Enemies moves from pretty melodies lashed with electric punctuation (Only One Thing) to harmony-laden guitar pop (Black Heart). Added cello and piano broaden the musical palette and this album deserves to do likewise with the band's following.
CRAIG MATHIESON

The Brag, Issue #46, March 01, 2004
4 stars

It's obvious from the opening line of recent single Homesick ('No More Birthday Cake') that we are now dealing with a very different Big Heavy Stuff. Where the band's 1995 EP release Covered In Bruises was all aggressive bluster and howling over searing guitars, Dear Friends And Enemies is comparatively sedate. These days Big Heavy Stuff are far more comfortable within their own skin, prepared to give songs room to breathe, where with earlier albums they went for the throat and menaced the listener to within an inch of his/her final breath. Dear Friends and Enemies is for the most part far more acoustically based than previous BHS albums, which means the songs are more nakedly emotional. In these 14 new beautifully rendered songs, the band sound more comfortable than they ever have.
ANDREW WEAVER

Rolling Stone Australia, Issue 624, March 2004
3½ stars

Softer slice of same sublime sound
Fifteen seconds of near-silence ushers in the third album from Big Heavy Stuff - 15 seconds so tantalising it almost turns into a taunt. The gradually introduced guitar is a mocking, teasing temptation into the record, but once the bait is laid, the trap that springs is subtler than you might expect. Opener Her Small Mouth is a tight, crisp song, but its delivery is very restrained. Greg Atkinson sings as if he's scared that the person in the room next door might hear him, and that sets the tone for a mellower BHS album. That said, the strength of the songs here shines through - One Day In Your Life Gone is scuffed-Crowded House; Chris Abrahams (of Necks fame) adds some moody keys to I See Things and So Your News Can Reach Me augments Atkinson's plaintive melody with child-like choral bursts. It's all gorgeously thought through, well arranged, and beautifully recorded, even if it lacks a little bite in places.
DAN LANDER

JB Hi-Fi, www.jbhifi.com.au
CD of the Week

Sounds like: Something For Kate (Beautiful Sharks vintage: or current day but with melody!), or latter day The Get Up Kids. Points to note: If this was released by a Dashboard Confessional style band (yes, I mean 'emo rock'!) in the States it would sell it's fine sounding ass off. Pity about the cultural cringe that renders this as 'just another Big Heavy Stuff album'. Also want you to know: THIS IS GODDAMN AMAZING STUFF. I pick half a dozen radio hits off this (pity I don't work in radio I guess...). Leave your baggage at the door and turn it up a little bit more... Oh yeah, there's the packaging to mention: And I will. Thanks for making the effort boys. Well appreciated.

Rave Magazine, Tuesday March 2, 2004
4 stars

This Sydney-based band keep growing at their own pace.
Big Heavy Stuff have never exactly been prolific, and their albums seem to have a long gestation period, and so it is with this effort, only the band's fourth album in 14 years. Being over two years in the making means it arrives with all the attention to detail a less patient band may have been tempted to forego. Yet, for all that, they've also avoided the risk of overworking these songs, the only real frills augmenting the band being the noted Chris Abrahams on keyboards and Sophie Glasson's cello (oh, and Powderfinger's Bernard Fanning providing back-up on Homesick). As a result, this rock is atmospheric but still organic, not darker than before as some have suggested, but exhibiting more light and shade. Main writer/singer Greg Atkinson infuses even a slow-building song like Billy with urgency, while others like Her Small Mouth are inviting and intense at the same time. Clearly, these guys have matured over the years.
BILL HOLDSWORTH

The Age, Friday March 5, 2004
3 stars

Conquering adversity must be a prevailing theme in the Big Heavy Stuff camp. Since forming in 1990, as well as the usual line-up changes indie-rock bands sustain, they also endured their record company closing just before their last album (Size of the Ocean) was released. The fact it was a quality release, boasting the sublime single Devil's Tongue, was essentially lost when Redline Records released it almost 18 months later. With their second album on the Perth-based label, the Sydneysiders offer another 14 quality tracks with their customary blueprint of lavishly recorded, fully fleshed-out guitar rock. The ambiguous, slow-burning singles Mutiny and Homesick - along with opening salvo Her Small Mouth - are ideal pointers to the set. Yet there are some diversions: Black Heart is a more conventional pop song and One Day in Your Life is a disarmingly sparse, harmony-laden diversion. Tellingly, Dear Friends and Enemies is gorgeously packaged, with individual postcards for each track as well as liner notes. It's worthy packaging for a record fussily recorded and generously arranged.

Herald Sun, February 29, 2004
3½ stars

EVERYTHING about Dear Friends and Enemies, the fourth album from Sydney's Big Heavy Stuff, screams of thought, effort and attention to detail. No, it's not laboured - the care actually makes this intelligent package (even the packaging is clever) so endearing. Greg Atkinson's lyrics follow an enigmatic, non-linear path around an album of many moods. Indeed, if Dear Friends... lacks anything, it is an overall feel, as the band flit between roots rock, Oz rock-by-numbers, and a low-key, hypnotic brand of rock they have mastered. Within this latter kind of song, Big Heavy Stuff find their real power - creating emotions so strong that each four-minute concoction is an experience to remember.
NEALA JOHNSON

In a word: smart
Other releases: Maximum Sincere (1997), Size of the Ocean (2001)

Who, March 22, 2004
B

Something For Kate are very popular in Australia. Big Heavy Stuff are not. Which is strange, because they've both been ploughing neighbouring fields for a while, except Big Heavy Stuff generally have slightly better tunes, and Greg Atkinson's voice is easier on the ear than Something For Kate's somewhat gruff Paul Dempsey. Go figure. Anyway, you get the tightly wound, sinewy sound, the tugging melodies, and the dark world view. Atkinson's keening vocals glide easily through the upper registers, the yearning feel and simplicity of Scared Of Living wrap you in a bear hug, while the single Mutiny has a nice brooding build-up. There's a certain melancholy that pervades the album the album, but it threatens to - and occasionally does - descend into a grey-ish drift over the second half of the hour.
BARRY DIVOLA

Whammo, www.whammo.com.au

Fads, new genres and trends in music all come and go, but Big Heavy Stuff don't react. They simply write good songs and continue to produce them well, leaving behind an overweight discography that epitomises persistence. The single, Mutiny, hinted at the quality of songs we could expect from Dear Friends And Enemies; carefully crafted collections of meandering melodies and understated, restrained intensity. Greg Atkinson is one of the country's lyrical heavyweights and on the LP he displays that knack for placing the listener in the comfort zone only to twist his sentiment and challenge through personal observations and concepts. It's dramatic tracks like the opener, Her Small Mouth, that find a depth that is rare in indie rock, telling real stories through creative sounds. Big Heavy Stuff join a long list of Aussie acts that resist the temptation of the overdrive pedal to communicate a deeper message; one that doesn't rely on furious distortion, but instead relies on the power of songwriting. It doesn't mean that BHS can't write hooks and interesting riffs; there's plenty of crafty dynamics like my personal favourite I Should Have Seen This Coming. But if you're willing to actually think when you listen to music, Big Heavy Stuff provide that cerebral side to Australian guitar music that is so often undervalued.

Vibewire, April 21, 2004, vibewire.net

Album of the year? Definitely the best I have heard so far this year and it’s going to take something pretty special to knock this one out of the CD player. This is definitely the strongest work Sydney band Big Heavy Stuff have released in a long while.

The album starts off perfectly with ‘Her Small Mouth’, a wonderful track that eases the listener into the album; dirge-like keyboards at the start slowly increasing in volume until Greg Atkinson comes over the top with his typically restrained lyrics and the rest if the band join in with that distinctive BHS sound. This is my favourite track on the album. It sets the mood perfectly and I cannot imagine anyone with ears hearing this song and not wanting to hear the rest of the album.

This then leads into ‘Black Heart’ (which has been getting a fair bit of airplay on Triple J of late), which is a great little pop song and should do well. The next track, which you may have heard a lot of, is ‘Mutiny’. “If I were captain, this would be mutiny” – love gone wrong, beautiful with just enough pain, the cello is oh so subtle and really adds to the song.

The music on this album is great. All the players know when to let loose and also know when to restrain themselves. Guitarist Carolyn Polley is at times so self-controlled you can almost hear her wanting to break out, but the near perfect arrangements offer plenty of opportunity for that.

The other song getting a lot of airplay (but I am sure that most of the album should feature at some stage of the next year) is ‘Homesick’, which had Powderfinger's lead singer Bernard Fanning in near-unnoticeable back-up vocals. Atkinson’s voice on this track and in fact on about every track captures the emotion very well. Just about every other track on here is a standout, but if I had to offer a criticism, I feel towards the end of the album the songwriting tends to fall down a little bit.

This is a very strong album lyrically; Atkinson never using 10 words where three would do, but those three capture what he is trying to say perfectly. Each song is wrapped up in original music and great arrangements. BHS are touring nationally in May/June and I strongly suggest going to see them. As good as this album sounds on CD, I am sure it will sound even better live.

SIMON REEVES

Rip It Up, Adelaide

Big Heavy Stuff have made a triumphant return with their latest offering Dear Friends And Enemies. There is plenty to like about this album recorded, between October 2002 and July 2003, in a period of international political turmoil leading to war inspiring the theme of the album of, 'who are our enemies?' and, 'who are our friends?'

Wayne Connolly (You Am I and Silverchair) has worked his magic on this album and how could an audience not connect with songs such as Mutiny and Homesick (both are singles from the album). Mutiny is the defining moment of the album and I really think this typifies the essence of Big Heavy Stuff. The band is fortunate to be able to wheel out a big gun in Bernard Fanning making a rousing guest appearance in the song Homesick and with Greg Atkinson's impassioned vocal performance it proves to be quite a stunning song.

What Big Heavy Stuff does really well is to be able to take the listener on a journey of different extremes going to a darker place but also pulling back for a rather lighter moment. Her Small Mouth is without a doubt the heaviest moment on the album venturing as far as they can to the dark side before rolling in to a total contrast in Black Heart, which they would consider to be a more optimistic pop song for them. This is a remarkable album so don¹t be fooled by the very unique cardboard packaging!
ROB LYON