Another new Melbourne musical offering, this time from Cyanide Thornton via a self-titled album just out on Bedroom Suck Records. Here’s the opening track “Weight”:
“Weight” is a magical 6 minute journey, starting with the mesmerising snaking lead guitar part which is sustained in pools of reverb. At first gently, unpredictably unwinding for the first few minutes of the song, before exploding before the vocals begin. That process of uneasy calm, building tension, exploding and release/ relief continues throughout the song.
Cyanide Thornton is Sienna Thornton (guitar, piano, organ and lead vocals) with Ellah Blake (drums, violin, vocals) and David Pesavento (bass, guitar). While the album is loosely “alternative rock”, the music on Cyanide Thornton’s self-titled debut has the kind of sparseness and drama of a peculiarly Australian kind of post-rock folk music. The sometimes minimal hypnotic starkness of the music, garnished with ornate reverb guitar parts, and the dark immersion of Sienna Thornton’s arresting voice and melancholic words build to crescendos of noise and emotion before falling back to reclaim the uneasy calm.
Pop Lib 