Album Review: Whitley - Even The Stars Are A Mess

This record comes after almost four years of silence from Laurence Greenwood, the man behind Whitley, after he announced he was retiring the moniker due to disillusionment with the recording industry. After an extended period overseas, however, his enthusiasm returned, and now we have a third album from one of Australia's most ambitious and rewarding songwriters.

Even though it's been four years since Whitley's second album Go Forth Find Mammoth, it's hard not to compare it to Even The Stars...; they're texturally very similar, and listening to them back-to-back reveals an interesting progression in Greenwood's headspace. Where Go Forth… was an expansive exploration of anxiety and fear, both personal and for all of humanity, Even The Stars… is a smaller album in sound and focus, and is generally more hopeful in its outlook (though this hope is still vague and delicate, and likely to be snatched away at any second). When Greenwood sang “I will make it through this” on Bright White Lights from Go Forth… it sounded like a hopeless platitude, whereas now in Roadside he sings “I'm alright now/I feel it in my bones now” with considered confidence. The only real misstep here is TV, which has gauche lines like “I get my sex from the TV”: he's already explored similar themes in much more subtle and effective ways, like in the sparse and frightening OK.

Who knows whether Whitley will ever release more dark anthems for the world's end like Head First Down or Bright White Lights, but with these lovely intimate songs to take their place, we shouldn't miss them too much.