(Warner Music)

Hopefully, more parties to follow 

It was about four years ago that this West Australian band were deemed to be on the verge of greatness. But after only a couple of well-received EPs, I think The Hampdens have maybe lost some momentum taking this long to release their debut album. However, now a three-piece based in Melbourne with Susannah Legge the sole vocal presence of the band, they managed to snare the services of producer Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, Beth Orton, PJ Harvey) to shape the moody atmospherics of these 14 songs. With Legge’s measured but sweetened tones and considered melodies leaning a lot on layered guitar-synth interplays, the songs carefully thread their way through themes of indecision and alienation and finding oneself online - all best summed up in one particular song, Generation Y (even with its incongruous echoes of ‘80s pop). They stray at times - Burnt Out Sundays, maybe appropriately, has a touch of the doldrums about it - but the yearning paranoia of Lucky Man, the jaded but still aching air of the title track, and even the Coldplay keyboards of Asleep On The Lawn show The Hampdens are only just starting to live up to their promise.          

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BILL HOLDSWORTH

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