Wreckery, The - Past Imperfect (Album)
The filter of history can distort the relative importance of and appreciation for bands of the past and in recent years this has resulted in a mythologised view of the Australian rock scene of the 70’s and 80’s. Last year’s Pig City festival in Brisbane is one such example, where bands of aging (some would say legendary) musicians performed to crowds many times bigger and more enthusiastic than they could ever have hoped to command in their heyday. As such the release of The Wreckery’s Past Imperfect, coinciding with a reunion tour, presents an initial whiff of extravagance and self-gratification.
Reading singer Hugo Race’s liner notes dispels this impression, replacing it with a picture of disorganisation, inarticulate frustration and a band succeeding in spite of themselves before eventually succumbing to the inevitable ravages of self-indulgence. Rather than glorify or revel in the excesses of youth Race dissects his bands career with a notable honesty, acknowledging the source and impact of the bands failings while also placing The Wreckery in a matter-of-fact historical context, among luminaries such as Nick Cave and The Beasts of Bourbon.
Musically. The Wreckery are exemplary of the new-wave influenced Melbourne rock of the 80’s, combined with a swarming, stomping blues that is unsurprisingly evocative of Nick Cave’s early work. Despite reflecting an 80’s recording aesthetic obsessed with reverb-drenched snares Past Imperfect sounds surprisingly contemporary and asserts itself in a way that few releases by the contemporary crop of Triple J favourites do. Remastering engineer Callum Orr has done a fantastic job of capturing the sound of twenty-year old vinyl with a wonderful sense of fidelity, depth and dynamics. Rather an archival oddity or collector’s piece this is an album worth checking out on its own merits that would appeal to fans of the Drones or Nick Cave’s Grinderman album
