Album Review: Bernard Fanning ‘Civil Dusk’

This is ostensibly a review of Bernard Fanning’s third solo album, Civil Dusk, and it will be. But I’d like to start by talking about Daniel Johns and Silverchair.

You see, Powderfinger and Silverchair had such similar careers. Both founded between 1989-1992, disbanded within a year of each other (Silverchair are still on hiatus), and both fronted by charismatic, ambitious lead-singers. They both also offer thoughtful modifications to the then-dominating rock sound: Powderfinger with country elements and structures, Silverchair with a grungy nod to Seattle. Both bands have been totemic to the Australian music scene, the twin pillars of the two decades leading up to 2010.

I find it illustrative, then, the vastly different directions that Daniel Johns’ and Bernard Fanning’s solo work has taken. Australia offered a collective gasp when Daniel Johns revealed his second iteration to be a fan of Justin Timberlake’s high-pitched vocal style and electro-pop, but by God weren’t we talking about him for a fortnight or so back there.

Read our review of Jack Meadow’s EP ‘Good Company’ feat. Daniel Johns HERE

Australia will have offered no such gasp at the release of ‘Civil Dusk’. This is both good and bad for Fanning. Bad because the song-writing will have to speak for itself in the absence of triple j-induced buzz, but good because Bernard Fanning is quite capable of that.

“…his songs always feel like bumping into an old friend at the supermarket.”

‘Civil Dusk’ is an album lyrically about decisions and consequences. However, I find a funny thing happens when I listen to Bernard Fanning. I hear the lyrics, and I understand them as I think Fanning understands them, but the song always becomes about whatever I am currently thinking about, and the lyrics come to mean whatever meaning I then give them.

I know that sounds complicated, and it is. But I think the reason this happens is because Fanning always writes such universal songs. He wraps them in such an accessible package of wistful melodies, evocative lyricism, country-folk acoustic guitar, warbling synthesisers, and the unmistakeable richness of his inimical voice that his songs always feel like bumping into an old friend at the supermarket.

‘Civil Dusk’ is not so different than Fanning’s previous two albums, ‘Tea & Sympathy’ and ‘Departures’, perhaps a bit less country, a bit more folk? But what marks this album as different is the absence of the usual self-consciousness that has accompanied Fanning post-Powderfinger. This album is frank and honest, and seems as close to a perfect distillation of Bernard Fanning as he sees himself, both musically and emotionally.

Wasting Time is the lead single and second track of the album. The jaunty melody and driving beat camouflages the melancholic lyrics, peaked by a chorus that intones memorably “only the good love survives/ you and I were wasting time”. It’s a great cut, and indeed it is a strength of ‘Civil Dusk’ that several songs could also have made great singles.

“By the time the strings appear at the edge of the composition, the song has become a complete unit, like a short-story with a satisfying ending.”

Fourth track Reckless features solid piano work and wonderful vocal harmonies in the chorus, another track that invites a listener to think of every time they’ve ever f*cked up. Change of Pace works because its honky-tonk beat and rollicking licks are literally a change of pace in the album’s tempo, aside from having the album’s catchiest chorus.

My favourite track though is L.O.L.A. It starts with a synthy beat before piano and percussion joins, timidly at first, then enters a wonderful spacious arrangement for Fanning’s voice to soar. By the time the strings appear at the edge of the composition, the song has become a complete unit, like a short-story with a satisfying ending.

‘Civil Dusk’ is the first album in a two-album set. Announcing thematically linked albums in advance is gutsy. What if the first album flops, setting a maudlin tone for the rest of the series? Just ask Billy Corgan, mired somewhere in a high-concept Smashing Pumpkins’ trilogy that has gone down like a lead balloon. But when the first album goes well, as ‘Civil Dusk’ has, the second album is very anticipated indeed!

Bernard Fanning National Tour

TUE 2 AUG
Giant Dwarf Arena, Sydney
TUE 18 OCT
The Arts Centre, Gold Coast
FRI 21 OCT
Civic Theatre, Newcastle
SAT 22 OCT
State Theatre, Sydney
WED 26 OCT
Norwood Concert Hall, Adelaide
FRI 28 OCT
Queens Park Theatre, Geraldton
MON 31 OCT
Palais Theatre, Melbourne
FRI 4 NOV
Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns
SAT 5 NOV
Entertainment Centre, Darwin
THU 10 NOV
The Tivoli, Brisbane
SAT 12 NOV
The Northern, Byron Bay

Get Tickets HERE