Album Review: AB Original - Reclaim Australia

There doesn't seem to be a more relevant time for this release.

Even the tongue-in-cheek album title is taking a good dig at one group in the Australian community intent on further dividing our already fractious nation. And that's alongside a global hostility towards marginalised and displaced peoples so palpable it's like it has seeped into the water supply.

So Briggs and Trials uniting last year for triple j's Beat The Drum celebration was a godsend. Reclaim Australia is not only bursting with sassy guest vocalists, snappy beats and archival audio, it is the angry voice able to commentate the ills felt by Indigenous people who feel they have none.

Audio of Archie Roach's friendly tones open the album like a storybook - but in many of these tracks a happy ending is still out of reach, if indeed it is ever achievable. Single 2 Black 2 Strong sets this tone from the start, the two wordsmiths forcefully calling out injustice. January 26 follow suit with Dan Sultan's smooth croon offering a stark juxtaposition to the condemnation of annual Australia Day celebrations. Caiti Baker's layered vocals in Sorry have an eerie quality on top of R&B-like keys, Thelma Plum slides her gentle, breathy lilt into the sombre I C U perfectly, and Gurrumul's voice is stirring amid Briggs and Trials' determination for change in Take Me Home.

If some listeners feel uncomfortable being called to witness our forebearers' past atrocities then so be it. Reclaim Australia is an album that couldn't not be made in this regard, but it's also a stand-up flag bearer for polished Australian hip hop.