<p><span><span>- <em>Skakes</em> is the fifth release from roaming Australian singer-songwriter <strong>Emlyn Johnson</strong>, and it's his most straight forward yet. That's not a bad thing.<br />
The EP is comprised of six stripped-down country-waltzes recorded in a handful of friends kitchen's around the country. Those friends come up a lot in the songs. He's a name-dropper of sorts but not in a showboating, "look at who I know” way. It's more in the sense of showing gratitude to the people he loves and the landscapes of Australia that inspire his songwriting. Each song feels like a poem written on a bench about whatever happens to be in his periphery at the time. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The second song, <em>That's not a tram, that's a train</em> shines a light on an old man crossing the road carelessly, a young redheaded girl who may have lost her mother and our vocalist-protagonist riding a bike through Fitzroy. There's a little sometimes-pretty, sometimes-discordant electric guitar on the song and a faux-train whistle toward the end. It's some of the only instrumentation on the record that isn't acoustic guitar and voice, apart from occasional lap steel and keys.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>Good Night Alexandra</em> is a song about pining for a lover, geographically distanced. A classic theme in country music, infused with a modern Australian take. The kind of song that might comfort an absent partner on a cold, lonely night.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>Skakes</em>, the title track, is ostensibly about a little-known Australian mammal, described as a small, black, water rabbit in the song. Really though, it's about the people met and the experiences had travelling around this wide, brown country.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Skakes, the EP, is a departure from the out-and-out weirdness of his last record, Morning Venom. A record that had a lot of overdubbing and instrumental tunes. I'm happy with whatever form the next one takes. Johnson, along with other current acts like <strong>Ostraaly</strong> and <strong>Mount Trout</strong> show that there's more to the Australian independent music scene than gloomy guitar bands and edgy electronica. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Emlyn Johnson is a songwriter I will continue to follow as long as he's still making records. I'd suggest this one as a starting point for those of you who aren't listening already.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>- Nathan Kearney.</span></span></p>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2287037899/size=large/bgcol=f…; seamless><a href="http://emlynjohnson.bandcamp.com/album/skakes">Skakes by Emlyn Johnson</a></iframe>