Broadcast 2025-01-27

There is so much to say about this song.

I can hear the tambour behind them, only emerging as a solo instrument at the finish – a very folk instrument.

The instruments playing over that beat are light, disciplined and beautiful.

Then there are the voices of Mabel and Ivy, their tonality perfect, their harmony incomparable.

An American reviewer called their work “Chamber Folk” and that’s a wonderful description.

The song is about the ending of a relationship, “making a clean cut.”

“Strangers we’ve made now
The chains we have laid down”

And yet, a memory comes into the second verse of a better, a pacific time.

You can make a clean cut, you can live the future separately after the cut, past memories can contain a different cut.

Charm of Finches are currently touring Australia and New Zealand and will be down our way at the Port Fairy Folk Festival and Trentham’s Cosmopolitan Hotel, on 25 May. 

They will be performing songs from their latest album ‘Marlinchen In The Snow’ as well as exciting new material.

Charm Of Finches - Clean Cut - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-07-07

It is so good to hear some material from Nigel Wearne.

He used to come down this way quite often.

I have some of his CDs and you’ll hear them on Tempo.

His music and his playing are stellar.

The light guitar introduction sets the scene for ballad.

The guitar swells and recedes, as the song demands, fluid, making its own way through the song.

The crispness and clarity of the vocal is another trademark of Nigel’s.

His use of words is wonderful, phrases such as “I search the illicit hours.”

The language works in so well with the music.

This is excellent material, and a stunning performance. 

I hope this acoustic version appears on an album. It deserves to.


Nigel Wearne - Eventide - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-07-28

This is a very clever song. 

It piggybacks on to the Dry July alcohol free campaign to raise money for supporting people affected by cancer.

It seeks to remind us that there are people for whom Dry July means something beyond giving up drinking for a month.

As you can guess from the instrumentals, this is about the issues in rural Australia, where a dry July means something completely different.

It’s about the bleak reality of facing first hand the impact of drought on rural Australians.

It’s a perspective that only seems to get more than a headline when you watch Landline on the ABC.

Songs about the effect of drought have been a staple of the Australian folk scene, for example, Eric Bogle’s “Now I’m Easy” which emphasises that split between the city and the country.

“there’s no drought or starving stock on a sewered suburban block”

Big Delicious takes that to the next level, 

“I hope I see you next Dry July.”

Because, there’s no guarantee, is there? When there’s no rain, there’s no crops, no pasture, no stock.

Every time you see those headlines, remember there are people who see no future, for their farm, their family or themselves.



Big Delicious - Dry July - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-10-06

This is a light ballad about a heavy subject.

Musically, it’s very simple, an acoustic guitar, with a solo vocal.

The instrumental provided by the guitar was simple and could almost be called neutral in this context.

But that’s not the case when you listen to the vocal, and I mean listen.

The vocal tone and stress is again neutral, but the lyrics are a world away from that.

It’s a classical tale of a breakup, initiated by the other, and the singer trying to work through what just happened.

It was “the final break as you walked out the door”

She sings, “I’m trying to figure you out” but “I can’t seem to write it down.”

There’s some history to this break though, something perceived as not right but which festered  “’cause you never really tried to fix it.”

It is definitely seen as final, because she concludes “I don’t know how to leave this mess, but I do”

A good instrumental, great lyrics and a great voice to go with it.

You’ve done the rising star performances, go for it!




Llaney Jade - But I Do - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-10-06

This song begins almost hesitantly, just one musical thread.

By the end, it’s a fully fledged swooping magpie of a song.

At the outset we have a set of beliefs. Announcing them puts the singer on solid ground.

“I believe in words”
“I believe that a heart can change”
“I believe in truth”

Most importantly, believing in “the power [words] wield for bad and good.”

The master of manipulation and propaganda, Joseph Goebbels said, “a lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”

Then challenging the other, “would you call me delusional?”

And the impact of the word “delusional, that word is so cruel.”

She rejects any impact from being called “delusional, am I a fool, so be it.”

The final assertion – “I believe I’m through” – into a build before the musical climax.

Sometimes I found it hard to distinguish the vocal line in the climaxes.

There’s something ironic about the production coming close to swamping the vocal line being performed a singer who performed on The Voice.




Anna Weatherup - Delusional - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-10-13

For some absolutely incomprehensible reason the idea of a Welcome to Country ceremony is too much for some to handle.

It’s actually simple. Our First Nations people have been on this land for over 60,000 years, this has given them a connection to country unmatched in the rest of the world.

Colonists have been arriving during the past couple of hundred years, and despite the wars since those arrivals started, as Nancy says a Welcome to Country ceremony is about extending inclusivity and community to everyone.

They are the traditional custodians of the land, we acknowledge that, we take their welcome as it is offered.

It is so good to hear another song from Nancy Bates.

In this release, ‘I Belong’, the first thought I had was elegance through simplicity.

Simplicity is timeless, effortless and can be inspiring, as it is here in this song.

A guitar, moving between two notes, gradually including more of a melody, till Nancy’s voice joins in.

She talks of country and what it means to her.

“I belong, I belong, let the love of country make you strong.”
“I am free, I am free, part of everything that lives and breathes.”

Then the instrumental swells to a climax, with Nancy singing in language.

Nancy talks about the aim for this song as being to provide a centring and extending that inclusivity and community.

It does this brilliantly.


Nancy Bates - I Belong - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-10-13

This is a wonderfully put together piece, that begins and ends with the sound of rain.

That sound evokes feelings of relaxation and nostalgia, often creating a soothing atmosphere, as it does here.

In this piece we seem to have all three. A relaxing sound, nostalgia for what has been lost and music which provides a soothing atmosphere.

Rissa has a beautiful voice, it’s even over her entire range in this song, but as she’s the songwriter, I’d expect she would write for her range.

The production is high quality, with the vocals being clear throughout the song.

Having said all that, here’s the thing. The song fails to stir any emotional response from me.

The rhythm of the song comes over as unvarying, and while there’s a swell to the instrumental harmonies at one point I couldn’t connect with it.

I am left completely puzzled.



Rissa - Fall Out - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-10-13

This track is about the downside of the touring musician.

It even starts with the sound of car wheels passing across the stereo channels, then the lonesome harmonica introduction.

There’s also a rattle – but more of that later.

The notes say that Geoff Achison is playing tremolo electric guitar on it.

The two guitars work well to give a broader sound to the backing.

In front is Benji’s vocal, and Julie’s harmonica, taking the melody between them.

This is a lovely laid-back track, the style that I have a soft spot for.

Bands battling and being on the road is a frequent theme in song, from AC/DC’s “Long Way to the Top” to the Willie Nelson or Canned Heat songs both titled “On the Road Again.”

This is less an anthem than a reflection on the experience.

I get the feeling that betrayal rather than the action which hurts the most.

“It ain’t the speaking, it’s the way it’s spoke.”
“It’s the thief and not the steal, it’s only business, and the way it feels.”
“It ain’t so much the rifle it’s the shot in your mouth.”

Is it this emphasis that leads to
“All I ask is don’t fix me, though you think you can”

Remember the rattle at the beginning?

“Rattlesnake, rattlesnake, bit me twice, you took my last penny then you took my time.”

But the road is still there, and it’s the musicians’ fate to travel along it.

I really love how this all comes together to produce one of those laid back but impactful blues numbers.


Back Alley Sally - Rattlesnake - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-10-20

If you are going to record a song like this, there’s one fundamental question to be answered.

Do you have the voice for it? If you don’t, then take a walk.

This is Emma Donovan, so there’s no doubt. 

Yes, she is made for this.

We know her voice, and recording went on my list as soon as I received it and boy did it deliver.

‘Take Me to the River’ is iconic, I grew up with it, even though I had to admit that as a callow teenager I thought the lyric was “watch me drown!”

So, you have the voice, the strength, the majesty and a solid backing band, how do you make this your own?

You work in your language, that’s how you own it, that’s how you take this to the next level.

By that you assert “this is us.”

The stand has been taken, the line has been drawn.

This exceeds any expectations I had. It’s excellent.


Emma Donovan - Take Me To The River - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-10-20

This certainly has that laid back, relaxed groove feeling.

The arrangement has that familiar sound, wending its way into a funk performance.

The backing is solid, harmonies are on the money, absolutely nothing to complain about there.

The melody works, and the vocals are not only sung well, but the production has them sufficiently above the backing that they are discernible – no misheard lyrics here.

All in all, this track has it nailed.

I’d like to hear more, to hear the breadth of his material.

Groove Dr B will be touring with his new material, perhaps we’ll see him down here.




Groove Dr B - Nothing Better To Do - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-10-27

Yes, this is the goods. 

The music and arrangement is excellent. 

It’s interesting how it sounds so light-hearted at the outset, but after the deep fuzz guitar enters, a darker feeling comes through in the instrumental, but not the vocal.

The production is also extremely well done. There is a feeling of a big sound, but KT’s voice comes easily over the top.

I love the topic of the song. I’m going to get a bit of a nudge on this, but …

Astrology is one of those strange concepts where you take some less than specific set of identifiers, then you come up with odd links that are supposed to show influences of one on another, and wrap it up in a description sufficiently general that anyone can say, “yes that’s me!”

So Cancer …

Emotional, intuitive, and practically psychic; ruled by the moon and characterized by the crab, Cancer has so much going on in its watery depths. Cancer signs may seem prickly and standoffish at first meeting, once they make the decision to become friends with someone, that person has a friend for life.

As for the future, I predict two certainties – death and taxes.

It’s a great song, please ignore my cynicism and enjoy it.


KT Tunstall - Cancerian - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-10-27

I really can’t recall when I last heard this track.

Suzannah’s voice is instantly captivating, it draws you in and makes you focus on her lyrics.

Her accompaniment is a quiet guitar line supporting, not competing, as it should in this style of song.

The word that comes to my mind with this song is haven.

Two people, hurt and whole, taking refuge together, to the exclusion of others.

“No-one can touch us or break this spell”

“What happens between us is between you and I”

Providing a need.

“All I need is to be with you and all is well”

“Across a sea of lights, I’m yours tonight”

I love that chord shift to a more plaintive tone in the chorus.

It is fantastic that this will be available and getting a wider audience.

Suzannah and her band The Last Word will commemorate the release with a weekend of shows - Friday November 14 and Saturday November 15 at the Lomond Hotel, and Sunday Nov 16 at Archies Creek Hotel.


Suzannah Espie - Sea Of Lights - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-10-27

It would seem that Melbourne’s No 96 tram is much like Geelong’s No 1 bus route. Everywhere north to south in  their hometown.

Road trip songs are a staple, and my favourite would have to be John Phillips “Holland Tunnel” which gives directions to get out of New York and head to Los Angeles.

But I digress.

It’s light and it’s fun. I like the lines

Where I end up who can say?
No 96 is taking us to the other side.

From the tram bell at the beginning and onwards, it is obvious that this is not a deep and meaningful philosophical number.

That’s a welcome change.

It follows a tradition of such songs – The Mixtures “Pushbike Song” comes to mind.

It also seems a very Melbourne thing to define yourself by public transport route you are on. During my three years in Melbourne I travelled on the “Heidelberg, Eltham and Hurstbridge” train, in the days of the red rattlers, and I knew every twist and station on the trip, but not that much away from the track.

I love the deepness of Pink Floyd and Leonard Cohen, but sometimes you have to have a laugh.

Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission will be at the Birregurra Hall on Friday Nov 14, and at the Eureka with The Ferriters on Saturday the 15th


Mick Thomas Roving Commission - A Mighty Ride Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-03

Listening to this, I thought that there was no way that this was finished in one day!

Well it wasn’t – sparked, not finished, my mistake.

It is sensational, though isn’t it. Who cares how many days it took.

And echoes of Penguin Café Orchestra, they found the organ in the hard rubbish??

What are people throwing out these days??

Anyhow, enough of the banter, listen to that sound.

I am a sucker for the sound of a full range of instruments like this, and surely after this, you must be too..

The melody is deceptively simple and easy to follow, and that makes huge opportunities for working with it, throwing it from one instrument to another, building big, solid, harmonies.

Insanely listenable, and played clear, crisp and tight!

The lyrics are smooth, and slide around the instrumentals, providing a contrast to the clipped notes of the brass.

I was there in those golden 1970s, and this could slip in amongst the best without a problem.

Very cool!


CJ Commerford and the Supertones - Taste Of Your Love - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-03

It’s not hard to recognise a Dog Trumpet song.

The sound has a familiar feel, the performance has a trademark excellence.

That’s not a surprise, given the close and long-lasting relationship these two have had.

Altogether, that’s a high expectation to have of this musical collaboration, but they deliver every time.

The topic here is the Lismore floods. How do you compose something that talks of that, without making is completely mournful?

I’ve been too close for comfort to bushfires, but never a major flood. With a bushfire, there’s always a feeling that you can fight back, that there could be a shift of wind, something.

With floods though, there’s a certain inevitability. There’s water, it’s coming, you can’t stop it, all you can do is delay and divert.

To make this work, you first have to tell the story, they excel at lyrics.

First setting the scene …

“Down in sheets, it rained and it rained for weeks”
“Better take care, when bad luck drowns out your prayers.”

… and then watching the inevitable …

“.. the river keeps rising, watching your world disappear …”
“… it’s all out of order, it’s all under water …”

… as always the community response is heroic, in its classical sense of impressive in size or scope, where old scores are set aside. An echo of Lawson’s fire at Ross’s farm …

“… in the mud and the debris, you came out to help me, while your own house was under water …”

Packaging this into three and a half minutes is truly impressive, and I’ll always remember that line “… it’s all out of order, it’s all under water …”



Dog Trumpet - Under Water - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-03

Girl Friday is a frequent visitor to Tempo, and is it any wonder?

I love this song for a number of reasons.

The stately pace and sound of the instrumental is modern, yet classical, and provides a suitable background for Girl Friday’s vocal.

The definition of waltz is “to roll or revolve,” and the waltz is traditionally danced with the dancers holding each other so closely that their faces touched.

At one time this was considered shocking.

In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë has the local vicar intervening when a waltz is called for, declaring "No, no, I don't allow that!”

I think this history lesson is appropriate because the lyrics are about two people coming back together, with some gained perspective from their time apart, and with attitudes which have moved on their breakup.

The lyrics put this feeling so well. I love them.

Girl Friday’s wonderful vocals themselves match the stateliness of the song’s pace, they are clear and beautiful.

Absolutely brilliant.


Girl Friday and the Sepia Tones - Least Of My Regrets - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-03

This track really threw me initially. I couldn’t grasp the rhythm. 

It felt more like a jazz track, but I think there’s a standard four four hidden there, which is fascinating.

The piano is definitely lead, and the other instruments emerge and then fall back to be replaced by others.

Just like her last track that I reviewed, there’s a distinctive feel to the percussion, and by that I mean there’s more than a drum kit.

Jhana’s vocals are impressive, strong, almost a ringing vocal, and well-modulated and playing with the musical time.

I love that, I could listen to this all day.

I feel this is about an unrequited love, putting yourself out there, talking to friends, and I think this is the first song that I have heard that mentions seeking counselling.

The agony of “trying to be with you is like trying to get to a fake paradise.”

The bitter warning from a friend that “so many others have fallen into black holes” doing this.

I find this song completely seductive. 


Jhana Allan - Fake Paradise - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-10

I had to smile when I heard the opening of this song.

Neil Finn released this song in 1984, the year my son Matt was born, and I remember it well.

The song has a history and it has longevity. 

This century it was still being nominated for awards, in 2001 the Australian Performing Rights Association members voted it 36th for best New Zealand song of the 20th century.

With that heritage, and with Neil Finn leaning over your shoulder, taking it on was a ballsy move.

It would be easy to do this review by bouncing back and forth between the two versions, but that would not be fair to either.

This is a minimalist version, with a light instrumental and a single clear voice enhanced with occasional harmony.

The opening guitar introduces it, and I can hear a bit of George Harrison in the tone.

There are light flourishes from the violin, which also takes on an instrumental bridge as do the other stringed instruments.

Some might contest the description as country, it equally could be folk, a trivial argument.

The essential verdict on this, is excellent. 

Angus has taken ‘Message to My Girl’ and made his own unique version.

This is not a cover, it is an excellent reworking of that classic song.


Angus Gill - Message To My Girl - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-10

This song almost feels like a classical aria.

The violin is a constant, working with and around the vocal melody.

The steel provides a counterpoint, and the other instruments support them.

The song achieves Keane’s vision of the inner child, but not just asking, almost pleading, and her tone gives me a feeling that this is not a new plea, and the child knows it will fail.

The overall feeling is of desolation and despair.

This song is so effective in creating that feeling, it needs a Beyond Blue warning.

I’m amazed at its strength.


Simone Keane - Come Back - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-10

Regular listeners will know that I play classical pieces less often than I would like, so I was very pleased when Mark asked me if I would be interested in playing this.

I hope you also enjoyed it.

This second movement is described as adagietto cantando.

That sent me back to the music theory books to shake out a few cobwebs.

Adagietto is described as being moderately paced, encouraging calmness and contemplation. Cantando as being performed in a song like style.

This movement is truly beautiful, and I can hear it fitting its description.

The sound and pace of the opening strings provide that gentle feeling of relaxed contemplation.

A contrasting rising passage ups the tempo, and I can hear a harp in the arrangement.

A more relaxed return to the earlier tempo has a delicate metal xylophone above the strings.

I really love this, and I can’t believe that it has taken so long to get it performed and released to the public.

All to often we hear the refrain that there is no general audience for classical music, so we can’t programme it. But until it is programmed more often, there will be no general audience for classical music.

I hope you listened and enjoyed it.

For my part, I’ll have to rearrange the format of a Tempo program, so that we can hear the full symphony.

Mark Isaacs’ Symphony No. 2 has been released on major digital musical platforms.



Mark Isaacs - Symphony No. 2 II. Adagietto cantando - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-17

Escapism, resignation, or desperation?

This track has a big sound, almost a wall of sound, not just a rock band, but violins and whatever.

For all that, they’ve got the balance right. You can actually hear the lyrics – a job done right.

So often that is not the case.

Audibly, the lyrics might be clear, but semantically they are enigmatic.

They lyrics are sparse though.

The central message seems to be that they have abandoned everything except a need for constant movement.

Even any thought or consideration is irrelevant.

“I lost my mind the other day
I don’t need it anyway”

Then the repeated refrain

“Running down that ever winding road 
Baby it’s the only thing I know”

There is an interjection,

“My mother told me it’s never too late, 
you got to dream and catch a break
So I keep on dreaming”

But then they are running again, to something or away from something?


Big Wheels - The Only Thing I Know - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-24

Seldom does a song feel so much like a season that you can almost feel the hot wind or icy stillness on your skin while you listen.

Just in passing, did you notice that this song is the one that is the end of the world fantasy?

We’re listening to a breaking up, and my weird brain wonders about Marianne Faithful, or is it merry and faithful?

The song has some lovely lyrics, “shackled in love,” and “the delicate art of living alone.”

Even with the disrupting effects of the breakup, Amarina is even handed:

“I spy with my little eye all of the things you have done 
all of the things that you have not done at the age of 37.”

“I spy with my little eye all of the things I have done 
all of the things that I have not done at the age of 37.”

But the things done and undone will be different for each.

The instrumental in this is interesting. 

It starts very simply, just one guitar for the first bracket, and then the balance of the band comes in.

I get a sense that the instrumental would not be viable without the lyrics, the voice becomes a part of the instrumental.

This is very clever, I like it a lot.

The album is very strong, the songs are excellent, I’ll be looking for a live gig to hear more.




Amarina Waters - So Long Marianne Faithful - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-24

This has a sensational introduction, some would say it’s heading into metal.

And then Gypsy J’s voice comes crashing through.

It’s strong, it’s hard, but wow it’s loud!

Let’s dissect that.

Why do we think it is loud? It’s because we set the volume high based on the sound of the instrumental. 

The voice then comes through on top of that, well on top of that, down goes the volume and the instrumental nearly disappears.

Full marks for giving us a great, strong, clear vocal, but for the first time in my life, I’m going to say that there seems to be too great a gap between the vocal and instrumental which gets overwhelmed.

We have to have a happy medium here.

Let’s leave that in the dust behind us. 

The tune and instrumental is great, it’s everything you need. Solid and tight.

Never mind the volume, Gypsy J has a glorious voice, she uses it well over her range, there’s no weaknesses here.

The lyrics are florid, vivid, relentless.

“Tears cascading down my face”

“A theatre of insanity”

“Rise up, rise up, I’m falling down”

“Decay and decline my future undefined”

This is a really good song, a little tweak and it would be a great song and a great sound.


Gypsy J - Rise Up - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-24

Now this is different, and I love listening to different.

I know that all music is folk music because horses can’t sing, but this definitely is a new direction.

In fact the stylistic mix of instruments and vocal modes is my bread and butter.

Autoharp, synths, percussion, vocal reworking, I’m loving this.

If this has you confused and wondering WTF is this, then switch off your existing musical filters and just listen.

Instrumental accompaniment, it’s there, melody, it’s there, sophisticated melding of the whole into one, of yes, that’s there.

OK, heart on the sleeve – I did wonder at first, it was overwhelming, and it still is, but in such a positive sense now.

You have to listen for the lyrics, and they emerge and receded from the background, and while there is a story, they rely on short poetic grabs to get your attention.

Georgia’s album ‘Beanpole’ marks a very interesting new direction. It’s nothing short of truly amazing!

She will be playing at Golden Plains Festival 2026.




Georgia Knight - Mingle - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-12-01

Previously we have listened to Josh doing a cover of “All Along The Watchtower,” but this is one of his originals.

This definitely different from that track.

First up, and most obvious, is the full and lush production, not just with an instrumental backing, but a choral line as well.

Out in front, along with Josh’s voice is an electric guitar with a jangling reverb when it comes to the front.

The melody is compelling, and it’s easy to follow, which helps you to focus on the lyrics.

This song has been pitched as a metaphor – winter changing into spring, a change of mood both meteorologically and personally.

If you listen for it, it’s right there in the verses.

Initially

“It’s been a long winter
There’s still a bitterness lingering on
And though it’s hard to let go
For those who delight in
Letting the light in
Sooner or later, the garden will grow”

And then welcoming in the festival season, sunshine and an early change

“Changing position
Leaving behind the conditions
and promises from times gone by
Bringing resentment into the present
Will only cloud over the burgeoning sky”

Both subtle and easily spotted, a very clever lyric.
As I said before, this is the first of Josh’s original pieces that I have listened to, but it won’t be the last.


Joshua Batten - Spring Fever - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-12-01

The trouble with reviewing songs like this is getting tangled in the lyrics and applying them to yourself.

I’m 70, so it’s not hard to find something in those years which fit.

But it’s also showing how effective the lyrics are.

But to the topic at hand.

The music in this is good, workmanlike material played very well.

There are no surprises in it, it rolls along and carries the lyrics.

The lyrics are the stars in this anyhow.

Right from the first, “Tell me why I'm alone again, why the thoughts in my brain aren't in line. The only time that I felt whole was when our hands were intertwined.”

That sets the tone, completely unambiguously.

“The darkness in that cloud and the sharpness in your tone
Is bringing me to my knees
The knives that you hurl are cutting me to the bone”

This is excellent storytelling, and got me right in.

Wil Linder - A Good Hard Look - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-12-01

Now we know that they are good.

As promised this is a blend of pop, funk, rock, and jazz, maybe with an emphasis on the funk and jazz.

I know you can always get a “yes from me” when there’s a stand out brass line in the mix.

This is one form of music where being tight and precise is essential, and that is precisely what you get here.

The lyrics fit the beat perfectly, and that is essential.

I can easily make out the chorus, but sometimes I feel the lyrics fall below the instrumental a bit, but I can live with that for a sound like this.

I’ll have to do some detective work, and track them down, find out where they play.

I could really settle back for some sets like this.


Better Than The Wizards - Everything Else Is Hard - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-12-08

This is an immediately likeable song that is easy and catchy, yet musically complex.

This is definitely jazz tinged, with a bit of that soul sound. A great place to be musically.

It’s got a full on sax intro, a snatch of vocals leading into keys which go back to the sax for an instrumental bridge, then Jorb’s electric lead guitar.

Debussy once said, "Music is the silence between the notes" and to take that to a slightly higher level, I often find the transitions between passages interesting, hearing the music change, and hearing the transition itself.

‘Enraptured’ has such distinct passages, that as the lead changes, discrete changes occur, but they happen so smoothly and effortlessly.

This speaks of talent and skill, not just of the songwriter, but in the arrangement and performance.

The DAVs have been together 19 years, and that earned musical synchronisation shows in every phrase.

The lyrics are a celebration of finding your perfect match ...

Sitting here, looking at you
I feel enraptured
Fall into your eyes and I am gone.

The song is all from one perspective, and even when you feel that your love is meant to be, there are no guarantees.

Mind you anyone who wrote a song like this for me is going straight to the top of the pile.



Dilip n the Davs - Enraptured - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-12-08

This is a fantastic tune, is that 6/8?

There’s a great reliance on a back beat, walking those notes along the tune.

While the lead vocal comes out in front, it would be a shadow of itself without that silky choral support.

The instrumental line has a classic sound, and showers a supportive complexity over the vocal.

Following the lyrics proved difficult though, it’s just so seductive.

The lyric is a plaintive cry for the opportunity to sleep alone.

I can think of so many ways this review could go from here, I’ll leave that one with you.

If you read the lyrics before you heard the song, I think you would be puzzled about how it would work, but it does.

You need to listen to it several times, this is classic stuff.


Mark Campbell & The Ravens - Sleep on my own - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-12-08

Do we ever need a hopeful message right now. 

This tune is an excellent way to deliver it.

It’s light and bounces along, it’s never competition for the vocals, essential in a ballad, but do take note of the harmonies, lush and complex.

The vibe is instantly positive and carries you along without distracting you from the lyrics.

The lyrics are definitely positive.

We can share
We can give
 We can love
We can live
We can rise up above


A beautiful thought, and beautifully delivered.

Find it on their album ‘Watershed.’

Stonehutt - Clear Air - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-12-08

OK, let me run through my use of some terminology first.

This is not a cover. To me a cover is when a band tries to fully emulate the original band. Yes, it takes skill to be a successful cover or tribute band, but these bands are navigating to a known destination.

This is a reinterpretation. The destination is known only to the band. The lyrics are almost always identical to the original, but the rhythm, the tune, the pace and the style are where the changes usually occur. To me this requires a higher level of skill.

Appreciative listeners will know the song, and a successful reinterpretation will give them that “wow” factor and hold them.

This is definitely a successful reinterpretation.

It’s absolutely wonderful, and the changes made by Jennie, especially the harmonies work so well.

Less electric, more acoustic, more than one voice carrying the lyric.

I particularly love the piano part, almost disjoint and off tempo.

The song comes from their album “What Pop People Folk This Popular” and can be purchased through Bandcamp.

The album was funded via their patreon community.


Bush Gothic - Great Southern Land - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-12-15

This song has some beautiful and individual characteristics.

It has an elegant tune, wonderfully sung by Anna, and it feels like the instrumental is just moving behind her placing a new harmony behind each note she sings.

This instrumental is much more than that, of course.

It’s warm, it’s lush and a perfect counterpoint to Anna’s voice.

The instrumental bridge allows the instruments to shine and show their strength.

I love the use of an alarm test, a drill, to become a metaphor for the state of the relationship.

"This is a drill
They’re checking the alarms in my building
This is a drill
A check to see how fast we get moving
This isn’t real
And I wish you’d given me the same warning
This isn’t happening"

becomes

"This is a test
On getting through each day without waking
This is a test
Of how far I can bend without breaking
Might be a mess
But I never was someone who liked failing
This isn’t happening"

This is an extremely clever use of words and their representations.

It’s a very familiar experience we are arriving at by a very unfamiliar map.

And we are left with an appropriately solo solitary couplet.

"No I don’t think I’m doing so well.
I’m still waiting for the phone to ring"

This will be taking home awards.

Anna Smyrk - This is a Drill - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-12-15

This track ticks all the boxes, and if I could find more boxes, it would tick those too.

It’s fantastic bit of funk, it’s tight as a treasurer’s purse, everything and everyone right where they should be.

The beat is solid and keeps a solid consistent rhythm, except where it shouldn’t.

The melody is precise and consistent, except where it shouldn’t.

Because that’s the thing, isn’t it.

Just when you are settling and know where you are there’s a sudden shift in rhythm or a key shift, and you are heading down a different direction.

Equally, the melodic emphasis shifts between instruments while the melody shifts in itself.

A place for everybody and everybody in their place.

You can only pull this off with superb musicianship and superb production, and this piece is right on that.

In short, magnificent, I have to get to a live gig!

Gusto Gusto - Split Second - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-12-15

This a light, almost delicate melody concealing a lyric addressing more serious matters.

Kim then enters with a completely unexpected vocal.

These days most female vocalists seem to hug the higher registers, but here is a warm alto pitched vocal, with a presence over her entire range.

The instrumental steps up in the choruses, but at no time challenges the vocal, it’s providing support, lifting an accentuating the chorus.

"Ahhhh
All good when I am with you
Ahhhh
As long as you are still breathing"

I like that the song offers no solutions, no panacea for someone in trouble. It offers presence, it is undemanding.

"Are you feeling more blue than the sky?
If you are, come and sit with me
We can soak up the sun
If you want to lie here for a while"

On every level this is truly beautiful.

Kim Yang 楊予菁 - All Good When I’m With You - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-12-15

A clip or two of film dialogue to open the track signals that this probably not a solemn number here.

On the other hand ‘Peace and Love’ is a serious subject, whether it’s about two individuals, or two (or more) nations.

I’m glad to say that the lyrics point to a personal level.

If that wasn’t enough, the melody and arrangement definitely nail it as not being a continent sized stand off.

The vocals in this track definitely shows the Australian candour side of Cait Lin, nothing is left in doubt, apart from the outcome of the relationship.

The lyrics are clever and fit with the instrumental like a glove.

The instrumental and arrangement fit like a glove with the vocals, and the rhythm and the styling show a debt to jazz idioms.

It all comes together, and as Bogie says at the end, “I’m very grateful.”

Cait Lin 凱琳 - Peace & Love - Tempo Review

Weekly uploads of reviews and interviews from the program, "Tempo". "Tempo" is a weekly radio program presented by John Lamp, highlighting a wide range of music and music reviews on 94.7 the Pulse in Geelong, Wadawurrung country. John has been involved in community radio since 1976, initially with a music program "Parcel of Rogues" on 7CAE-FM in Hobart, Tasmania. After moving to Geelong, he joined 94.7 the Pulse on the program "Folks Alive", which morphed into "~meanderings~." John then spent a decade on the station Boards of Management before returning to the air in 2022 with his new program "Tempo." Full programs can be accessed at the link below.

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