Again, I’d point the reader towards the West African and sub-Saharan elements in Two Worlds and Home To You, wafting and caressing before a much more frenetic I Want To Believe with Lang over a manic fingerpicked double time guitar riff. I Don't Like Him Being In Here comes right out of Richard Thompson territory, with a guitar solo to match and feels like The End Of The Rainbow (covered later in the running list) brought on a couple of years and told from the little horror’s point of view with the kid, dealing with what presents as a dysfunctional family, failing to comprehend what’s happening around him or the reasons why it’s happening.
There’s a touch of the Moroccan Casbah about Edge Of The Light, a solid dose of Crazy Horse style Neil Young meets Jimi Hendrix in Slow Rooms + Fast-Blurred Faces and a healthy serve of desert blues in South‘s rolling riff.
Social issues come to the fore in Another One Of Those Days’ portrayal of an abused wife that hints at murder or some form of malfeasance while Richard Thompson’s The End Of The Rainbow, one of the bleakest songs known to Western civilization gets a suitably chilling delivery that follows on nicely from the menacing undertones of the previous track. After that you need at least a glimmer of light in the darkness, and while Half A Tank Of Hope isn’t exactly upbeat, it fits the bill and Things Are Coming Back My Way is in much the same hemisphere. Not quite upbeat, but headed in that direction. Possibly.
Finally, as far as the regular album goes there’s The Janitor, a warped perspective on the Melbourne Cup from the point of view of the bloke who’s left with the task of cleaning up after the mayhem is over. In Lang’s words, if you were placed in that situation, you'd loathe everyone.
The regulation bonus track arrives in the form of an acoustic take on South, which makes an interesting contrast to the regular reading but doesn’t add too much to the picture.
Recorded with his regular rhythm section of Grant Cummerford (bass) and Danny McKenna (drums) and veteran producer Mark Opitz, (Cold Chisel, INXS, AC/DC, The Angels and Divinyls) twiddling the knobs, Chimeradour delivers another batch of material that’s (at various stages rather than simultaneously) ethereal, elegant, devastating and gut-wrenching. It’s not easy listening, but definitely offers rewards for those inclined to give it a fair go in the attentiveness department.
Lang is probably Australia's premier guitarist, a riveting live performer, a writer who’s as good as any going round at the moment with an eye for quirk and detail and while the vocals mightn’t be his strongest suit they have character and inhabit his characters with an often chilling menace. A class act...