ESKIMO JOE – INSHALLA

A interestingly cinematic blast from a Hindi flute opens up this album, but when we hear the chorus of Foreign Land unfold we know it’s the same old Eskimo Joe, with the mainstream screws tightened just that little bit further. These guys have somehow wedged themselves in the annals of modern Australian music as some sort of alt-pop legends, and it’s hard to say deservedly so. They perform their craft well, but with this their fourth studio album, more than ever the samey tunes and safety-blanket arrangements tinge this music with a pallid mediocrity. The earnest title track rocks along with glamorous abandon, and we’re treated to a kind of bastardized Crowded House moment by way of Creed with Don’t Let Me Down. There is a lot of variety here, but everything is bled dry of its heart by the clinically precise production and Kavyen Temperley’s overwrought yowling. The boys are attempting to expand their heartstring melodics into something genuinely affecting and complex, but the major label guidance seems to have squeezed out any possibility of the material taking off. Maybe they need to go garage, and totally independent in order to really deliver a soul record, as this stuff is manicured and hazy with the fog of pre-packaged success. The sycophantic soft-focus photos in the booklet don’t really help matters either. This stuff is purely for the kids.

**