Album Review: Wagons - Acid Rain And Sugar Cane

Henry Wagons and his enigmatic band come together once again to unleash their first studio album since 2011's Rumble Shake And Tumble, this time joined at the helm by the iconic Mick Harvey on production and multi-instrumental duties. Hold On Caroline gently opens the record with its soft and reassuring keys, before Wagons insists, “We're going to go on the ride of your life.” From here, the tempo, grandeur and urgency increase through bold orchestration, wailing vocals and a militant beat, suggesting we're in for something bigger and bolder than ever delivered by the band. Subsequent tracks maintain this notion, taking the listener on a high octane journey from Australia's pubs all the way to America's swamps, offering chances to recuperate along the way with more demure tracks such as Why Do You Always Cry and Never Going To Leave, before finally coming home to settle down with a whisky in Dust In The Hall. While the journey is brilliantly mapped out, what's most successful about this record is the fact that for arguably the first time, Wagons' vocal charisma is matched, and at times even bettered, by moments of sheer genius in instrumentation – the horns in Hold On Caroline, the funky bongo percussion in Hundred Years Or Six Foot Down, the slow-burning synth intro of Search The Streets and the jarring of the flute in amongst Summer Liquor's rockabilly swagger. With Acid Rain And Sugar Cane we're gifted an absolutely stunning body of music.