Album Review: Deniz Tek - Detroit

While the inimitable Oz rock juggernaut Radio Birdman have seemingly called it quits for the last time, that hasn't stopped its engine room from staying the course. Deniz Tek has released a ton of material under both his own name and that of The Deniz Tek group over the years, but Detroit is his first in over a decade and a welcome return.

Tek has assembled a taut band to dish out his blues-tinged rock'n'roll – it's basically a precision power trio, with Tek handling all of the guitars himself and the rhythm section augmented by bursts of keys and harmonica but never straying far from the simple successful blueprint. So long in the shadows of Birdman frontman Rob Younger, he's also grown into his role as a vocalist, his gravelly voice carrying great heft and gravitas.

Lyrically about half of the album is about the death of a city; namely Detroit, near to where Tek grew up and a musical inspiration to him from an early age. Songs such as Pine Box, Ghost Town and Twilight Of The Modern Age deal with the city's tragic tumble into urban decay, while just as powerful are the remainder of the tracks such as Growing Dim and Falling which deal with more intimate matters – the deaths of a number of people close to Tek which occurred during the album's gestation. While only closer I'm All Right brings some positivity to proceedings, the album isn't as bleak as the subject matter would suggest, ultimately up more poignant than depressing.

Detroit is a welcome return from one of Australia's great rock renaissance men – testament to the fact that you can't keep a great man down.