Bhagavad Guitars – ‘Unfamiliar Places’ | Album Review

Review: Billy Geary

Reforming bands after a long time away from playing can be tricky business. There’s a plethora of questions that need to be asked – Will the band’s new material stand up to their back catalogue? Does the band have the same passion for music they once did? Will the band’s original fan base still exist after so long out? More often than not, it is these things that result the failure of any attempted come back by most bands – think the increasing irrelevance of The Smashing Pumpkins or the disaster that was Guns and Roses’ Chinese Democracy. Sometimes, it just isn’t meant to be.

Thankfully, with their first release in 14 years, Sydney four-piece Bhagavad Guitars have hit the mark perfectly. Unfamiliar Places is an excellent slab of indie based rock, bringing memories of stalwarts The Church and The Go-Betweens flooding back. Jeremy Butterworth’s jangling guitars and John Kilbey’s strong vocal melodies dominate the album, with the band’s off kilter approach to pop rock succeeding in almost every way possible.

Unfamiliar Places is brimming with emotion, particularly in the vocal melodies, something that is unsurprising given the spark for the creation of the record stems from the passing of a close friend of the band. In particular, the title track reflects with the emotion in Kilbey’s voice brimming over and creating what is the album’s standout song. Similarly, songs such as ‘Autumn’ and ‘Disregard the Warning’ succeed because they combine the energy and emotion of the music with the band’s trademark quirky pop rock melodies.

In its own right, Unfamiliar Places is a very solid record however; it could be argued that it doesn’t bring anything new to the table in terms of originality, which could be a problem for some listeners. Once one gets past that though, Unfamiliar Places is a very rewarding listen with it clear that the record was made for no one but the band themselves. In fact, as the album progresses it becomes a non-issue with Bhagavad Guitars seemingly revitalised and brimming with energy. Tracks such as ‘I Wanna Know Why’ and ‘Bad Thing’ seemingly jump out of the speakers, particularly due to the urgency found in Kilbey’s voice. In fact, Unfamiliar Places is a much-needed change from the every increasing drabness of modern pop rock bands.

Unfamiliar Places is a welcome return from some of the Sydney music scene’s elder statesman and is sure to delight any fans of the band, or fans of 80s era Australian pop rock for that matter. Bhagavad Guitars’ sixth album is an outstanding collection of pop infused rock that is brimming with the energy and emotion the band is known for. One can only hope that the four piece decide to stay together for a while longer so a newer generation of Bhagavad Guitars fans can see what all the fuss was about 14 years ago.

Review by: Billy Geary

– Unfamiliar Places – Bhagavad Guitars

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