Tallies
Tallies
(Fear Of Missing Out Records)
★★★★

WITH the very young founding members having met on a sound engineering course at college, Toronto four-piece Tallies cite The Smiths, The Sundays and the Cocteau Twins as key influences.

The melodic jangle of indie pop on their self-titled first album certainly echoes these seminal 1980s bands but arguably they sound most similar to their Canadian cousins, the better known Alvvays, especially on tracks like Have You and the gorgeous Mother. “My mother taught me to ask questions/She said that boyfriend will not do,” frontwoman Sarah Cogan sings on the latter.

With the rest of the record apparently exploring the anxieties and uncertainties of adolescence, the set is a heady mix of fuzzy, lighter-than-air instrumentation and Cogan’s dreamy vocals.

A fantastic debut full of youthful existential angst, the Tallies have an exciting musical career ahead of them.

Keith Jarrett
La Fenice
(ECM Records)
★★★★

MADE up of eight improvised pieces and several standards, this double album of pianist Keith Jarrett’s 2006 solo concert at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice is an absolute joy to listen to.

The nearly 18-minute-long Part I is a difficult, often discordant and sometimes ominous opening track. Elsewhere Part IV is a stunning ballad, gliding from melancholic romanticism to uplifting drama, while Part VII is a bluesy boogie, complete with Jarrett’s trademark guttural vocal sounds.

First recorded by the 73-year-old on his sublime 1998 album The Melody At Night With You, the traditional encore My Wild Irish Rose is a performance of rare beauty. The show ends with a lyrical rendition of Jarrett’s own Blossom, first heard on his 1974 European Quartet album Belonging.

A great introduction to the legendary jazz artist’s sunset years.

Beirut
Gallipoli
(4AD)
★★★★

HAVING widened the palette of indie music with delightful Eastern European motifs on his 2006 debut Gulag Orkestar and follow-up The Flying Club Cup, Zach Condon — aka Beirut — is back with his fifth album.

Still very much a Europhile, the 33-year old Santa Fe-born singer-songwriter moved between New York City, Berlin and Italy during the writing and recording of songs such as the instrumental Corfu and Varieties of Waltz, a beautiful guitar-strummed saunter.

Inspired by a trip to the Italian island town with its medieval fortress, Gallipoli is the most classically Beirut track, full of mournful and moving horns and Condon’s droll vocals that sound an awful lot like the similarly talented Swedish romantic Jens Lekman.

A sumptuous set that tacks closely to the winning formula that has made Beirut a cult favourite over the last decade.