The debut album of this Sydney Australian band showed promise last year, and now it comes through in a big way. “I Told You I Was Poor” is a dizzying pop number, that starts with harpiscord a la Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” and adds jarring heavy rock riffs in main chorus. The Queen-like guitar touches and hooks are catchy as heck, and the album doesn’t miss a beat with the bouncy “Capsize” with it’s baroque composition and heavenly harmonies.
The highlights keep coming and the sunny melodies of “Gateway To The Stars” are contrasted by the cantata “Rat Poison,” that sounds like it belongs in a Sweeny Todd musical. Nothing predictable here, fans of 10cc will simply love the quirky “Turnstyle” and an evil point of view is expressed on “I Was Drunk,” with our protagonist giving the excuse for rotten behavior. The ballads here are also well written with lead vocal Stanton Marriott giving us the poignant “Becoming My Old Man.” The term Psychomorphism refers to the attribution of feelings to animals and inanimate objects. No filler either and it looks like The Wellingtons are going to have to make room for another Aussie power pop band that gets my top ten of 2011 nomination.
Hey, PPA: snap!