Album of the Week – Midnight at the Plutonium by The John Steel Singers

 

 

‘Midnight at the Plutonium’ by The John Steel Singers is Eastside Radio’s Album of the week.
This week we bring you yet another great homegrown Australian album, bringing the funk from Brisbane is five piece band The John Steel Singers and no none of the members are named John Steel apparantely they named themselves after a nickname one of the members had for an old toy, if that doesn’t show originality what does. With this being the band’s third release you can be sure fans will be eagerly awaiting to hear what they have come up with.

 
For the listeners out there who have fallen for The John Steel Singers previous sounds on their EP’s ‘Everything’s A Thread’ and ‘Tangalooma’ don’t be surprised to notice that they have gone in a slightly different direction. Still full of funk, passion and lots of uniqueness the band have brought us a record that has professional written all over it, in my personal opinion I think these guys have really found their feet on what note they want to go for and it is no surprise as the band have been touring the U.K and Europe numerous times and are doing so next month again.

Of course after growing an international fan base and lining up to perform on stages in Amsterdam and Paris the band have by now built the confidence and experience to play exactly what they want to play.

Released on the 8th of July this year, however like all great albums its been a while in the making which only means one thing, they have scraped ideas they didn’t like, enhanced on areas they were strongest and like true artist’s enjoyed their time getting there. From recording their previous work in a make shift studio in guitarists Luke McDonald‘s parents’ house to finally establishing their own studio in Brisbane named ‘The Plutonium’ hence the name of the album title, the band now have the space and equipment they need to produce an album of the standard in which they have done.

Over eight tracks we get to hear The John Steel Singers pushing the boundaries on their sound and experimenting with different guitar rifts and brushes of the symbols. A track that is full of smoothness that can be played in any setting is ‘Taxi or Walk’ as they start off nice and slow while bringing in touches of 70’s Funk, then one that really deserves the attention is their long time coming track ‘Can you feel the future’ as this particular track has sounds in it that come from the early jamming days back in 2010, with 8 minutes we get to hear funk, indie and soul this number is sure to be a crowd favourite at their shows. The first single they released for this album was ‘Weekend Lover’ were they brought in a sax to funk it up even more, along with the sax there’s a real catchy chorus that makes it exactly a ‘Weekend Lover’ song to have belting out.

Yes the band have gone in a slightly different direction but one thing for sure is that they have taken the right road, with such uniqueness and bringing back some retro guitar strums in their own way it is a real burst of fresh air that will make you want to start tapping those feet and getting right into their sound. The John Steel Singers may have had quite a fanbase already but after this album starts filtering its way through and with their many gigs coming up such as The Newtown Social Club on Friday the 26th of this month you can be sure that the Brisbane quintet will be a Queensland hallmark with many endeavours to come.