Album Review: Tinpan Orange - Over The Sun

27 November 2012 | 4:41 pm | Jazmine O’Sullivan

Tinpan Orange have found brilliant form with Over The Sun.

More Tinpan Orange More Tinpan Orange

The soothingly seductive sounds of six-foot siren Emily Lubitz and her Melbourne-based band Tinpan Orange are throwing down the gauntlet to the likes of Sarah Blasko, Clare Bowditch and Lisa Mitchell in the indie folk scene. Since the band's debut back in 2004, Tinpan Orange have evolved from a charming brother-sister duo to a five-piece powerhouse, with the addition of Harry Angus from The Cat Empire (and husband of lead vocalist Emily Lubitz) on keys and trumpet, Alex Burkoy on strings and Danny Farugia on drums, helping Emily and Jessie Lubitz unleash their most considered album to date, Over The Sun.

The band have much to thank their new members for, with credit given to Angus and Farugia for the thumping, pulsating groove of Barcelona and Burkoy's string arrangements on tracks such as Like Snow and Supergirl driving the dramatic tension, rather than acting as simple accompaniment. The album demonstrates a delicate yin and yang, chopping and changing from themes of happiness, melancholy, playfulness and seriousness in order to create a beautiful ebb and flow. The old-world charm of Emily's vocals allows the theme of nostalgia to resonate across the whole album; it's emphasised most, however, in tracks Lonely People – an ode to the King himself, Elvis Presley – and the slowed-down, dreamlike cover of the theme song from the classic '90s TV show Round The Twist

Cruelly, the album finishes with one of the most energetic tracks, Tattoo On Her Wrist, leaving the listener desperate for just a few more minutes of spinning-around-in-circles-like-a-crazy-person-dance-time. Tinpan Orange have found brilliant form with Over The Sun; we can't wait to see what comes next.