By Rob Hirst, Sony Music 2018
I love this EP.
Midnight Oil drummer, Rob Hirst, has teamed up with guitarist, singer/songwriter, and producer Lez Karski (The Hippos, Bondi Cigars, Nervous Investors) to record one of the best rock records I’ve heard this year.
The five tracks on this EP blend bluesy riffs, with trippy pop and meaty grooves, courtesy of bassist Al ‘Owl’ Britton (Bondi Cigars, Dynamic Hepnotics), and engaging melodies to produce songs that remain firmly implanted in the memory.
Lez Karski produced Midnight Oil’s Head Injuries album and the EP Bird Noises and a friendship was formed between them that has lasted 40 years.
Karski hasn’t produced this EP, which has instead been produced by Paul McKercher at fellow Oils member, Jim Moginie’s, Oceanic Studio on Sydney’s northern beaches.
The EP has been a long term project because Lez and Rob have been talking about writing some songs together for most of the 40 years they’ve known each other. However, once they teamed up the writing and recording came together quickly.
Rob commented:
Lez sent me some riffs, plus a complete song (Free Range Train) and I matched the riffs with a few stray verses and choruses then worked up some lyrics.
When Lez arrived from W.A. to play some gigs and festivals on the east coast, we ran through the songs a few times at home then threw them down at Jim’s studio.
It all seemed quite natural and easy.
That relaxed, easy, familiarity comes through in the performances.
I love the opening track, Low Net Worth Individual, with its hard edged groove and And The Earth is Round, with its wonderful bluesy guitar riff and funky bass.
I had never known just what a good guitarist Lez Karski is until I heard this CD.
There’s a lot of influences in there; some Hendrix and Steve Ray Vaughan mixed with Jeff Beck.
His skill is brought to the fore on the track he wrote by himself, Free Range Train.
Rob Hirst has worked with many bands in addition to Midnight Oil including blues masters The Backsliders, so he is very comfortable when dipping his bucket into the blues well. But in this EP he has cleverly blended melodies and lyrics that take the songs to a different place.
I hope that this EP isn’t just a one off and that we receive more from Lez and Rob.
