After two stellar records, Ball Park Music opted for a derelict, crumbling house in South Brisbane to bravely fly solo and record album number three – no producer in sight.
While this decision can be appreciated as a move of freedom and maturity, it ends up delivering a mixed bag. Flexing their experimental muscles more adventurously than ever before, Puddinghead is, at times, a chaotic rabble, providing only glimpses of innovative gold.
The pity is, to find this gold, the listener is forced to sift through pounds of disorganised pop/rock. The loveable acoustic-driven charm we heard in Happiness And Surrounding Suburbs and Museum is all but gone, as are the witty analogies (‘Alligators’ in the yard is replaced with ‘Cocaine Lions’) and all traces of ‘It’s Nice To Be Alive’ are swapped for moronic repetitions in ‘Everything Is Shit’.
The result is a lack of cohesion, not only through the tracklisting but through the songs themselves. Every number seems to follow an unfamiliar structure, and the apparent decision to throw in keyboard effects for the sake of it – most unnerving in ‘Struggle Street’ and ‘A Good Life Is The Best Revenge’ – are questionable moves, to say the least.
“I’ve got my mojo back” lead singer Sam Cromack announces mid-album, “I don’t know where it went / But now I feel good, I feel a hundred percent”. Amidst hurricanes of distorted guitar licks and crowd-pleasing chants, it’s positive to hear that the quintet still have their mojo. It remains to be seen, however, whether mojo alone is enough to save Ball Park Music from becoming just… Puddingheads.
Listen to ‘She Only Loves Me When I’m There’ from Puddinghead here:
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