Back in 2005, Australian favorites The Lucksmiths released their seventh studio album `Warmer Corners’ (matcd039) and we had the audacity to call it “the best Lucksmiths release yet!”
The band—including singing drummer (Tali White), strummy guitarist (Marty Donald), and melodic bassist (Mark Monnone)—began playing together in 1993. Following three successful albums released only in their native Australia, the band expanded their sound and their audience with acclaimed albums `A Good Kind of Nervous’ in 1997, `Why That Doesn’t Surprise Me’ in 2001, and `Naturaliste’ in 2003, and had a collection of hits and an international following so strong that the anticipation for this forthcoming seventh album was incredibly high. The Lucksmiths answered the call by adding a new guitarist (Louis Richter) and expanding their sound even further with strings, horns, organs, and some expert Rickenbacker jangling.
Lead single `The Chapter In Your Life Entitled San Francisco’ (matinée 057) preceded the album by three months and was the first taste of the newly enhanced sound … a summery pop hit with clever lyrics, tambourines, organ and strings that has since gone on to become one of the band’s most popular songs.
Meanwhile, the glorious album opener `A Hiccup In Your Happiness’ (matinée 060) was the dancefloor sizzler that demanded to be a single … boasting strings, horns, some funky guitar, and a bassline possibly borrowed from Orange Juice.
In addition to the two celebrated singles, `Warmer Corners’ delivered ten additional standout tracks including live favorite ‘Sunlight In A Jar’ and the mysterious album closer ‘Fiction’ … and suddenly, our bold press release claim that the album was “the best Lucksmiths release yet!” was validated by a string of impressive reviews in the music press upon the album’s release:
“Warmer Corners’ finds the pop icons arguably at the top of their game. It is an album that’s concurrently vibrant, restrained, mature and brimming with zeal. In short, it’s everything we could have hoped for.” –Time Off Magazine
“Another shimmering collection of road-trips put to music that balance wistful romanticism with mischievous grin, `Warmer Corners’ is like most Lucksmiths’ records; it’s meant to be swallowed whole, and in an age of singles with albums attached to them, it’s both refreshing and nostalgic at the same time.” –All Music Guide
“Idiosyncratic but accessible, literate but unpretentious, gentle but not weak, sincere not so much in presentation as in presence…The Lucksmiths never relinquish their distinctive identity, merely expand it.” –Pitchfork
“The Lucksmiths have a unique mastery of the art of writing a song. Their grasp on melody, on hooks, on details, on making a song feel sad and beautiful and optimistic at the same time, is unmatched… and `Warmer Corners’ offers everything I would want in an album.” –Erasing Clouds
“The Lucksmiths are a perfect antidote to preening pop, overly intellectualised conceptual folk, the emotionally barren ‘avant-garde’ and self-aggrandising (and self-perpetuating) rock tedium, which of course is the reason they are not household names, are not all over our TV screens and grinning/gurning from the cover of the NME. I guess that literate melodic pop is just not the thing for the masses, and as I’ve said in the past, no-one does great literate melodic pop as effortlessly as The Lucksmiths.” –Tangents
“The consistency of `Warmer Corners’ is, in the end, its most gratifying asset. The album lends itself to being played in full, preferably listened to on a hammock with a cold iced tea on a warm summer’s day. The easy, carefree atmosphere is extremely effective; the songs’ warmth of proximity makes each better than it would be if heard alone, resulting in an album that somehow transcends its simplicity and becomes something of remarkable beauty. Album of the Week.” –Delusions of Adequacy
Eight years following the album’s release, `Warmer Corners’ was pressed on vinyl for the first time in a limited edition of 500 copies that sold out almost immediately. We are finally getting around to righting that wrong with a brand new edition on red vinyl in deluxe packaging with full color inner sleeve and lyrics, so get in quickly if you want one of these beauties as the pressing is also limited to just 500 copies worldwide!
The official release date is June 19, but we are accepting preorders right now and will begin shipping copies the week of June 8. As with all recent Lucksmiths reissues, we are working with the fine folks at the Lost and Lonesome Recording Company in Australia to make this available, so please visit their shop for a copy if you are closer to there than here for better postage rates.
The Matinée clearance sale is still in effect at the Matinée shop so you can add some tasty gems to your order and we’ll ship it all together. These prime savings are unprecedented, so take advantage of them now to help offset the insane postage rates we’re facing and before the US Postal Service raises them again.
If you are not already suitably motivated, have a listen to a few ‘Warmer Corners’ classics on the player below!