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Mick Harvey – Five Ways to Say Goodbye (2024)
Review:
Melbourne music legend Mick Harvey unveils his latest solo album, Five Ways to Say Goodbye, via Mute. Five Ways to Say Goodbye marks Harvey’s fifth solo album, featuring an introspective blend of originals and covers brimming with wistful acoustic rock gems. Across the album, Harvey creates a coherent mood between other people’s songs and his own, as though they are all part of the same lineage and interconnected sonic world. As such, these reworkings go far beyond functioning as simple cover versions. “I don’t think cover is appropriate terminology,” says Harvey. “It’s not a copy. To my mind it’s more in the traditional sense of how songs used to be, where they would mutate and you’d end up with lots of different versions. One is really just passing the music on and sharing the songs further.” The album features “A Suitcase in Berlin,” originally released in early 2023 with artwork that nods to the new album, a translation and reworking of Marlene Dietrich’s 1950s ode to Berlin, “Ich Hab’ Noch Einen Koffer in Berlin.” Harvey’s updated take on the song, first written in 1922, brings a sadness and weight to the subject that is appropriate to the passage of time and the weight of history which hangs over the city. “(The album) is kind of about farewells or saying goodbye,” explains Harvey, “There’s a lot around that subject so it’s got a kind of melancholy and sentimentality around it.” The theme is multifaceted, and the album may be the closing chapter on a five-part series of albums that began in 2005 with One Man’s Treasure, continuing on with Two of Diamonds, Three Sisters – Live at Bush Hall and Four (Acts of Love). It’s a reflection of time passed and life elapsed, and also a literal goodbye in some instances. “A lot of the songs are by people who have moved on,” says Harvey. There are few artists as endlessly versatile as Mick Harvey. From his powerhouse, role-shifting, contributions in the ferocious The Birthday Party, to being a central driving force in Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, via crucial contributions in bands like Crime and the City Solution, Harvey leaves subtle yet indelible fingerprints on every project he touches. Additionally, he has done countless soundtrack work including ‘Ghosts… of the Civil Dead’ (Dir. John Hillcoat, 198 , ‘Chopper’ (Dir. Andrew Dominik, 2000) and the award-winning soundtracks for ‘Australian Rules’ (Dir. Paul Goldman, 2002) and ‘Suburban Mayhem’ (Dir. Paul Goldman, 2006). He also touts numerous collaborations and roles as a producer and/or arranger for the likes of PJ Harvey, Anita Lane, Rowland S. Howard and Robert Forster, bolstering further his unusually prolific and eclectic career. — broadwayworld.com
Track List:
01 - Heaven's Gate
02 - We Had an Island
03 - Demolition
04 - The Art of Darkness
05 - Setting You Free
06 - Alone with the Stars
07 - Nashville High
08 - Ghost Ships
09 - Dirtnap Stories
10 - When We Were Beautiful & Young
11 - A Suitcase in Berlin
12 - Like a Hurricane
Media Report:
Genre: chamber pop, indie-folk
Origin: Melbourne, Australia 
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)
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