Calenture

The latest in a growing list of reissues for The Triffids, it was obvious that Calenture, more than any other of the West Australian band's works, would benefit immensely from box-setting, remastering, glossing up.

Bury Me Deep In Love somehow appears thicker, if possible more enveloping and Kelly's Blues is wilder, more forlorn.

But 21 years on what remains is Dave McComb's songwriting. I've been partial to Unmade Love for a little while now. McComb's ability to walk between esoteric and poetic is singular and what initially drew me in. It's only one thing that keeps me listening. Listen again to this song and hear the occasional caterwauling in the background, the reverb on McComb's voice and the distant organ aching. All this works against the screwed tight drumming with McComb: "I'm not getting any stronger, just let me sleep a little longer" telling us his destiny.

It's a welcome delight to see The Panics and others willingly embracing a legacy of literature and song and making music that is peculiar to the land of the Nullarbor and the Earth's most isolated capital.