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about
Through unhinged guitar lines and intense brooding vocals, Crystal Thomas's 'A Chance In Hell' - was launched and released on 21st April 2012, through iconic Melbourne label Off The Hip. The album; written, recorded, and co-produced with Spencer P Jones and Matt Walker, captures Crystal’s 'Australian-gothic', confessional lyrics over a dark disco pulse and rock n roll swagger, raw against the lush production of the previous offering – 2008 Stovepipe records release: ‘Crystal Thomas & the Flowers of Evil’ for which she received some great reviews:
Crystal Thomas : A Chance In Hell (album review by Patrick Emery)
"If necessity is the mother of invention, then personal crisis must be the midwife of artistic inspiration. Without embarking on anything approaching a robust statistical analysis, the overwhelming majority of great songs can be traced back to the emotional dramas of the songwriter, or a protagonist in their immediate circle; conversely, when all’s well, so too are the sharp edges lacking.
Crystal Thomas’s new record, A Chance In Hell, plays out like a cathartic journey through the good, the bad and the downright dysfunctional of the human condition. The Dread tells a sordid tale of lifestyle binges and psychological solitude; Mornings Like This suggests an event of clarity when the fog of excess lifts to reveal a dirty human reality. I Could Die Right Now is replete with chemical metaphor – or is it literal narrative? Whatever We Can Find is an emotive, and cathartic waltz across a floor littered with emotional detritus; on La Tormenta Thomas revisits the spoken-word style of her previous record, as Matt Walker and Spencer Jones provide a suitable volatile climatic sonic backdrop.
La Mort is murderous in narrative and dirty in tone; The Dry renders romantic drought in an ideal torch-song form. Patterson’s Curse is from the heart, stumbling onward like a drunk trying to escape the perpetual haze of cognitive confusion, Dragon Song is a glimpse back into early '80s Sydney pub rock seen through the eyes of a true believer in the mythology and Persimmon Textured Dreams is a collage of tabloid headline puns, self-referential hope and a wickedly enticing New York gypsy punk soundtrack.
A Chance in Hell isn’t a pretty record; the only flowers on offer are those ready for presentation at the almost inevitable moment of mortality threatened throughout the album. But life isn’t pretty – not in Crystal Thomas’s bruised hands, at least."
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: Persimmon Textured Dreams
If You Like These, You'll Like This: SPENCER JONES, MARIANNE FAITHFUL
In A Word: Honest
lyrics
La Tormenta
A harsh wind had been blowing around for some time
Water was being held in the bay by one storm cancelling the other
Voices were blown away by the roar of the storm
My heart beats ahead of me, banging away in my chest like dirty speed
Something acrid in my veins, fear replaces blame, but as long as the north wind held strong the city was safe
Predictions, warnings, forecasts, but we assumed they were ill – informed.
I was the north wind, you were the hurricane
Such a scene of devastation
La tormenta, la tormenta
Such a scene
The battle between the north wind ‘chaos’ and the hurricane ‘fury’ was magnificent
I never joined the fury said chaos I always held strong
But, at noon the barometer began to drop,
At a rate that predicted a perfect storm of tremendous violence
Emotional carnage and little souvenirs,
The red scarf you bought me and a flood of tears.
I was the north wind, you were the hurricane
Such a scene of devastation
La tormenta, la tormenta
Such a scene
I was the north wind, you were the hurricane
Such a scene of devastation
La tormenta, la tormenta
Such a scene
Such a scene
Such a scene
One little room inside remained standing
But the flood rose so rapidly, our home fell, like a house of cards
When the flood water reached the electric light plant
The city plunged into darkness.
Every street was choked with the ruins.
While the restless sea, inside of me,
Not content with the damage, that had piled the wreckage,
In one great long mass
From city end to city end.
No one knew just where I landed, bruised and mangled
In the teeth of the fury.
No room for sympathy,
When we’re tackling the problem of burning the dead.
credits
released April 21, 2012
Recorded at: The 8 Track Shack & engineered by Dave Manton (except for 'La Tormenta' which was recorded & engineered by Michelle Dilevski at Static Attack)
Mixed & mastered: by Lindsay Gravina at Birdland Studios
CO-PRODUCED BY SPENCER P JONES & MATT WALKER
Musicians:
Guitars; Matt Walker, Spencer P Jones & Matt Green
Bass, double bass & synth; Tim McCormack
Drums and percussion; Phil Collings – all tracks (except ‘Persimmon Textured Dreams’ – Terry Walker and ‘La Tormenta’ – Simon Edwards)
Viola; Jason Bunn
Cello; Mikey Madden
Piano & keyboard; Matt Walker
Backing vocals; Spencer P Jones, Matt Walker, Clare Moore & Mikey Madden
Crystal has spent fifteen years in Melbourne's music scene,
has written and recorded two EPs and released two studio albums.
She's collaborated with musicians including Bill Chambers, Conway Savage, Claire Moore, Matt Walker, Spencer P Jones, Mick Harvey, Tex Perkins and Don Walker.
A music project dawning takes her to new territory musically and geographically....more
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