Part Company - Part Company LP

I’ve mentioned before that every year it seems a newish project lands in the shop that centres around SONGS of some sort that I can’t stop playing. I thought that this year might be the first in a while without a record in this vein until I cracked the latest box from Spoilsport Records this morning and preceded to play this for three hours on loop…

Part Company is the debut LP from Daniel Twomey, stalwart of Melbourne independent music that you may recognise from groups such as Lower Plenty, Hot Tubs Time Machine, Deaf Wish, and more.

In solo mode, Twomey’s offers up lush, hazy, yet earnest songs. Sonically, they remind me of a crop of artists that have recently settled along the NSW Coal Coast (ie. Soda Eaves, Stolen Violin, Blue Divers) in their tension between closed mic’d instruments, hushed vocals, and tape atmospherics. Songwise, Part Company evokes the kind of structure of Arthur Russell’s Iowa Dream compilation: folky songs with a strong ear for melody up against instrumental compositions consisting of looping acoustic guitar fragments entwined with woodwinds. Love it!! –Mitch

(PS. While I normally roll my eyes at any talk of vinyl colour, the pink of this pressing alongside Julian Hocking’s art has got me thinking Philip Guston here!)