After the indie-folk restraint of Calder’s 2011 solo mini-album Bleeders, Trouble With Templeton served evidence of tremendous range and ambition on their debut album. Then went a step further, harnessing a leaner, tighter take on Trouble With Templeton’s melodic styled alt-rock . As Calder puts it, “We made a conscious decision to challenge ourselves to focus on minimal instrumentation and production in the recording process in an effort to place more emphasis on the song-writing.”
The full-bodied songs here can take that emphasis, Trouble With Templeton weren’t slouching , where Calder and company wedded vibrant melodies epic, jangly, glam – to a core of emotive cogency. But on Someday, Buddy, their personality emerges sharper and clearer. “Our goal was to make a record that is raw, bare and honest,” says Calder, a claim borne out by the incisive lyrics of the swelling “Sailor” and lilting “Heavy Trouble”, where Calder’s falsetto dances over a tender indie-folk backdrop.
Sometimes fragile, sometimes forceful, Calder’s voice remains a marvel on lead track “Bad Mistake”, a combination of intricate verses and a huge chorus pitched somewhere between Pavement and Elliott Smith. And so the album goes, its full of slow-burn songs harbouring great reserves of potency: the discreet neo-glam swagger of “Complex Lips”, the sunburst chorus of “Vernon”, the gorgeous ripples of album highlight “1832”.
The album is the culmination of time spent refining the band’s qualities, something that the Bella Union label allows its artists in abundance and every time pays off . Following extensive touring for Rookie. After taking time out to recharge their batteries, Calder, Ritchie Daniell (drums) and Sam Pankhurst (bass) recorded as a trio with help from their friend Matt Redlich; later, they were joined by another buddy, guitarist Jack Richardson. As a result, says Calder, the band’s bonds are “stronger than ever”. By the time Someday, Buddy fades out with the understated confidence and poised beauty of “Sturdy Boy”, you won’t doubt it. Someday, Buddy is to be released 2nd December on Bella Union.
In the two and a half years since the release of their last album, Brisbane’s The Trouble with Templeton have, says frontman Thomas Calder, been busy “breaking down and reassembling what it means to make music for us”. On the evidence of the richly confident and clear-sighted Someday, Buddy, released 2nd December 2016 on Bella Union, that time was well spent.
The Fat Angel Sings 