Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By The April Family, Social Family Records 2020.
Sydney based alt/country trio The April Family has released their first new music in more than 12 months.
Fortune Teller follows on from their 2019 album House Of Cards which charted particularly well.
The single is the first release from their as yet untitled album which was due for release later this year.
There has been no indication given to the actual launch date, I suspect that the pandemic may have pushed it back.
Apparently, all the initial sessions for the album took place before the pandemic enforced shutdown and work has continued during isolation to complete the vocals and overdubs.
Fortune Teller sees the band continue to explore the cross-over between country music and blues/rock genres, a direction they have been travelling for some time.
The song starts with a finger picked guitar layered over the top of a pulsating drum and bass rhythm before building into a solid blues/rock track that contains possibly the most raucous chorus of their catalogue.
Fortune Teller is really an extension of the substantial shift that occurred in the April Family’s music with House Of Cards.
While there has always been elements of rock and blues in their music, House Of Cards had a harder rock edge than any of their previous efforts.
The country twang of earlier releases was replaced by a sultry, moodier and sexier vocal presentation by lead singer Kylie Whitney which resulted in the album not only charting well in the country charts but also crossing over to the mainstream ones as well.
Fortune Teller was written by Kylie Whitney and producer/multi-instrumentalist Michael Carpenter and in the words of the publicity machine at Social Family Records sees the band head “off road and a little further into the ditch”.
I think the band has definitely gained extra street cred as a result of their off-road excursion.
