Album Review: The Siren Tower - A History Of Houses

A History Of Houses couldn't sound more uniquely Australian if it was cracking tinnies while frying up some snags with the cricket and footy blaring simultaneously in the background. There's heat in these songs; natural beauty that exudes through the lyrics of Grant McCulloch. The record has heart, resolve and rawness; a genuine reflection of the trio who've grafted the music.

Some of the songs are built around fictional narratives, others around experiences and truthful tales; all intriguing and colourful, vividly delivered by the versatile voice of McCulloch. The music, meanwhile, provides every shade of a sunburnt country, from the orchestral folk of The Banishing Of Williams McGuiness and the thumping rock of Floods, to the stuttering steps of City Of Light. It's familiar in tone and texture but reinterpreted with a rock edge, tipping its cap to the heavy alternative background of the three Perth-based players. And if the music wasn't enough to envelop you in a complete blanket of nostalgic warmth, the packaging of the release certainly will. Not so much a CD case as a genuine book, the disc is stored within a hardcover photo album – A History Of Houses, if you will. It couples old snaps of the various homes that have shaped the band members' lives with stories about the structures and the related song, as well as the lyrics that have developed from such inspiration.

It's this care and attention to detail that sets The Siren Tower apart from their contemporaries and also what makes this debut release from the Perth trio a genuine victory.