For Departures – a nod to his new style of songwriting as well as the passing of his father and brother – Bernard Fanning has substituted the traditional for the modern.
This approach was plainly evident when single ‘Battleships’ was launched on Triple J. Immediately following the song being played, Fanning bemoaned how the compression of radio formatting had cramped its production sheen.
The focus is now on beats, textures, and loops. Fanning is using new technologies – and his laptop – to fuel his creative energies.
The first portion of the album works. The seeds of the meticulous production shine after the fourth or fifth spin. ‘Tell Me How It Ends’ seems the logical next single and is anchored by a typical ‘push-pull’ Fanning chorus.
‘Limbo Stick’ pronounces the experimentation the ex-Powderfinger frontman is after. It’s a tune he never could’ve delivered with his former band. Opening with a glam-rock swoon, it morphs into blazing horns and a vocal as convincing as Fanning has delivered for half a decade.
The one-two of ‘Grow Around You’ and ‘Call You Home’ cruises into more tender territory and, again, reveal their qualities after much patience.
The sole track with a slight musical connection to Tea & Sympathy is an ode dedicated to his late father and brother. With rootsy piano and fingerpicking throughout, ‘Departures (Blue Toowong Skies)’ is heartfelt and touching, if a little out of sync with what goes before and after.
Unfortunately the remainder of the album stumbles, particularly the clumsy INXS-inspired ‘Zero Sum Game’ and heard-it-before rantings of ‘Here Comes The Sadist’ (“privatise the profit/socialise the disease”). Fanning hasn’t been able to properly rock out since Vulture Street and these don’t give any indication he’ll able to recover such form again.
It’s clear Fanning has no more dreams of headline slots and grandstand anthems. He’s been there, done that and is over it. He’s now pursuing a style he believes best satisfies his ambitions. Whether it succeeds – or is accepted – within the public sphere is redundant. In this respect, Fanning has achieved what he set out.
Compared to his solo and early to mid Powderfinger catalogues, however, Departures is still an inferior addition.
