Album Review: The Tiger & Me - The Drifter’s Dawn

Melbourne six-piece The Tiger & Me are back with their sophomore long-player and, with it, a typically eclectic mix of musical stylings and sounds, as three lead vocalists combine and contrast. Produced by Steven Schram, The Drifter's Dawn has an interesting story behind it. The album was recorded sequentially from beginning to end, with each song being totally completed before the band moved on to the next. At times, nailing a track took days, while others were rattled off in a matter of hours.

Dance With The Devil opens proceedings with boy/girl vocals and strings atop a swaggering, snarling rock tune, before being contrasted by the perky indie-pop of lead single Pantomime. It delivers the kind of chorus that gets stuck in your head for days, with pretty female vocals and a swirling melody. Again, not wishing to allow the listener to get too comfortable, the next offering mixes things up once more. The moody, brooding, The Prophet Told Me is raw and heavy and was recorded completely live in a solitary take. Indeed, the rough mix off the sound desk is exactly what appears on the record. Completing a strong and diverse opening quartet of songs is Waltz #3, with huge choruses bookending verses by the three vocalists.

The remaining eight tracks continue along this eclectic line, but The Tiger & Me manage to avoid creating a jumbled mess and, instead, the record has impressive and slightly surprising coherence considering how it dips into this style and that. All in all, this is an album that is both interesting and rather rousing.