NEW ALBUMS
SPRINGTIME
Passion and poignancy on first from Aussie “supergroup”.
By Sharon O’Connell
Music “for homosapiens”: (l-r): Gareth Liddiard, Jim White, Chris Abrahams
JAMIE WDZIEKONSKI
Springtime JOYFUL NOISE
7/10
THERE’S a risk with any collaboration between players who each have a strong profile that it will be nothing more than the sum of those parts. Not so Springtime, which sees guitarist Gareth Liddiard, former helm of The Drones, now Tropical Fuck Storm, teaming up with pianist Chris Abrahams, best known for his work with The Necks and The Benders, and drummer Jim White, of Dirty Three and Xylouris White. Cultishly acclaimed figures all, albeit with different career histories, but mappers of broadly similar musical topographies and – crucially – all with improvisational chops.
The three came together more out of curiosity than with any fixed purpose, simply “to see what happened when you make a Necks, Dirty Three, Tropical Fuck Storm/ Drones cocktail,” as Liddiard told Uncut. He’d known White since the ’90s and was a Dirty Three fan, so when the Brooklyn-based drummer found himself stranded in Melbourne during the pandemic, they started playing live as a duo to earn a crust and have some fun, before deciding to bring in “someone else who could help hold down the bottom line but still improvise.” Liddiard described Abrahams, who he’d played with years before in a Triffids tribute show, as a “no-brainer” choice.