cwas#13 / cwas#12 / cwas#11 / cwas#9 / cwas#8 / cwas#7
cwas#6 / cwas#4 / all reviews / search

With a mood that's signposted in the title of their strolling opener - Happy/Sad - The Sunshine Club offer up a rootsy cocktail for anyone with a taste for a blend of Mark Eitzel and the Cowboy Junkies. With string-soaked romance and lo-fi somnolence in equal measures, Visit To A Small Planet's downcast heart is lifted by the rolling playfulness of songs like Rainy Day Friend (recalling RED HOUSE PAINTERS' Cabezon) and the raucous psychedelic interlude of Steiner Street. Sunshine Maker, mixing ragged acoustic guitar and a glassy squall of violin, makes the death of hope sound beguiling as vocalist Denise Bon Giovanni (forever on the verge of tears) sings, 'Sunshine maker / I believe in you'. Elsewhere Giovanni gives good Dusty Springfield on their version of Bacharach's The Look of Love. Like a down home PJ Harvey or the Sinead O'Connor of Black Boys on Mopeds, Visit to a Small Planet has the glimmer of a mellow gem.

Martin Williams
CWAS #4 - Winter 1998/9 - The Lost Issue

back