Album Review: Magnetic North

Kellie Lloyd starts Magnetic North with just a rhythm guitar and her voice on the lead track How To Get There. It's a nice warm start up, as it gradually adds extra simple elements until the two-and-a-half minute mark where it kicks into a classic indie-rock rock out, albeit centred around one chord, letting the jammy lead guitars do whatever they want. When it breaks away into the second chord after what seems like an eternity, it gently seesaws between the two as an outro.

She's spent years mastering this idea – refining her songs into their simplest form, with her subtle vocals gently working around the edges. We Are All Made Of Stars breaks up the rock – a simple piano line signals the main musical element, and she gives a bit more of her voice to us, opening up with a passion she usually reserves. Letting go a bit more makes it all seem that little bit more personal. Your Heart Is A Hunter is produced in a similar way, but her voice recedes into the background again. The piano is a welcome recurring theme and for the middle part of the album continues to be the central instrumentation. Guitars return for Foxes Down A Hole, recalling the classic '90s sound of the legendary Sandpit, one-time contemporaries of her band Screamfeeder.

It's taken Kellie over two years to get this album to the point where she's ready to release it to the world, Brisbane floods and other commitments slowing down the process. Now that it's here, I hope she herself has the opportunity to enjoy its release as much as we do in getting the pleasure of consuming and immersing ourselves in it.