Press
01-03-1999
"Neon Ballroom" Review
(Aussie Massive Magazine)
It's been 2 years since silverchair released their last album, the
highly acclaimed Freak Show. The pressure surrounding that
release was enourmous : how would they follow up a debut album that
sold four million copies? This time around teh pressure's not so
great, and it
shows. Neon Ballroom is different, silverchair is experimenting
and the results are awesome. "I was determined to make an album
that sounded different," Daniel Johns said.
"I thought we'd taken the three-piece rock thing as far as we could".
And nowhere is this more evident than on the opening track 'Emotion
Sickness' featuring the piano work of David Helfgott. Another
thing different about this album is the range of Johns' voice.
Gone is any teeny whine, with tracks like 'Miss you Love', 'Black
Tangled Heart' and
'Steam Will Rise' displaying the real emotion - from tenderness to pure venom - in his voice.
"These songs are definately a lot more personal. On this album
there'sprobably a wider range of moods and themes in the lyrics and
they're more based on direct experiences."
In 'Miss you Love', Johns sings : "I love the way you love, but I hate
the way I'm supposed to love you back", and in 'Black Tangled Heart',
he protrays a feeling of hopelessness with the final lyrics "Maybe I'll
fall in love...and never know".
The real strength of Neon Ballroom, is in its experimentalism, but
songs like 'Spawn Again' and 'Satin Sheets' contain classic silverchair
trademarks. By now, most people would be familiar with 'Anthem
for the year 2000', but the stadium rock piece is only a small
reflection of the scope of Neon Ballroom - one of the best CD released
in a long time. Tracks not to miss include 'Emotion Sickness', 'Steam
Will Rise', 'Miss You Love' and 'Satin Sheets'.