Nitemice

Because I love The Little Stevies (or just Little Stevies, as they seem to be calling themselves these days), and received their new album a week and a day before it was suppose to be released, I thought I ought to give you a review of it.

I first heard The Little Stevies one Sunday morning, when I woke to the sound of the song Sunshower playing on ABC Radio. Ever since then, I’ve loved this charming Melbourne-based, folk-pop band. I know nearly all the words to Sunshower, and the video has inspired me to want to learn Auslan, the Australian sign language. I own all their albums, except an early EP, which I couldn’t find a physical copy of, so I just bought it on iTunes.
When I heard the band was going on hold for a while early last year, I was a bit worried about what would become of them. With the only male member of the Little Stevies leaving the band, and one of the two sister which make up the rest of the group taking a break to have a baby, I didn’t expect to hear anything new in any real hurry, but it didn’t seem to really slow them down too much.
Like Amada Palmer’s album last year, I “kickstarted” this album too. It was actually done on an Australian-centric crowd-funding website called Pozible, which I previously heard about when Clare Bowditch used it to crowd-fund her business, Big Hearted Business. The tiers were pretty fairly prices, although I would’ve liked to have chosen a higher one, just to support them more. I ended up just getting the plain, album-only tier, which cost $25, about as much as if I’d bought the album any other way. The reason I didn’t go with a higher option was because the next level up was $55, and the only addition was a few bits of merch, some of which I already own multiples of. Had it only costed $35-$40, or had some better merch, like the “Love Your Band” T-Shirt I’ve been wanted to get for ages, I would’ve been all over it.

So, the rest of this review follows my usual album review format. I’ve written what previous song/s each track reminds me of (the album it comes from is in the brackets), and ranked it on this album, as well as writing a short comment about each track. Plus there’s a bit more of what I thought of the whole album at the bottom.

1. Diamonds For Your Tea

Reminds me of: Sunshower (Love Your Band)
Rank on this album: 4
The title track has two sections with somewhat different feelings. The first is more acoustic and story-based, while the latter section is upbeat and chorus-y.

2. I Hold My Breath

Reminds me of: Almighty Friend (Love Your Band), Leap Of Faith (Attention Shoppers)
Rank on this album: 9
A mature-sounding tale I’m not quite sure I fully understand, mainly compromised of just piano and voice . I think it’s about see the world and others around you move on with their lives while you’re stuck and unsure. It’s like the reverse of Almighty Friend.

3. Easily Swayed

Reminds me of: People Need People (Attention Shoppers)
Rank on this album: 8
This almost-acoustic track about a attitude-changing relationship gradually builds and then ends a bit abruptly.

4. Thunder

Reminds me of: Feel It (Attention Shoppers)
Rank on this album: 1
One of the more upbeat track on the whole album. I really like the funky drum beat, but the lyrics are a bit disturbing. Are they about domestic violence, or are they like Florence & The Machine’s Kiss With A Fist and just an analogy for passionate love? I don’t know, but I still like it.

Update – 2/3/14: I just saw The Little Stevies live at the Mordialloc Food & Wine Festival, and Byll explained that she wrote this song about her baby son, and the way he cries and screams. It takes on a whole different feel with that in mind, and it's still my favourite track from the album.

5. Wish To The Water

Reminds me of: History Like Mine {at half speed} (Attention Shoppers)
Rank on this album: 12
A short-feeling track, where the whole backing track seem to be throbbing, like some sort of DJ remix. Despite that, it actually a really slow, soft song with a focus on the vocals.

6. Shattered Dreams

Reminds me of: No Button (Attention Shoppers), Making My Sweetheart Smile (Love Your Band)
Rank on this album: 6
This song tells a detailed recount of some poor girl’s life story. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it’s pretty tragic. Musically, it’s kept simple with haunting vocals which helps not distract from the narrative, but instead instil it in your mind.

7. Canadia (Take Me)

Reminds me of: Ticket To Where You Are (Love Your Band)
Rank on this album: 10
A classically Little Stevies sounding track about regretting missed opportunities.

8. Heavy Words

Reminds me of: Want You To Feel (Grow Up), Leave It With Me (Attention Shoppers)
Rank on this album: 3
A really folky-sounding song about giving haters around you what-for. There’s a hint of harmonica which add to the mood appropriately.

9. Amigo

Reminds me of: Accidently (Attention Shoppers)
Rank on this album: 5
Definitely the song that’s been stuck in my head the most, this one is will have you wanting to do a cha-cha whenever you hear it.

10. Loving Man

Reminds me of: Love (Love Love Love) (Attention Shoppers), Grandma (Love Your Band)
Rank on this album: 2
This song immediately reminded me of Clare Bowditch’s songs, like I Am Not Allowed and Yes I Miss You Like the Rain. It’s in that same story-telling style with the hooking guitar licks. There’s also a background sound effect that sounds like someone shuffling cards that, unfortunately, pulls me out of the atmosphere every time I hear it.

11. Oh Honey

Reminds me of: Dear Daniel (Grow Up), Dink You, Rock ‘n Roll (Love Your Band), Because I Have You All, In The Sky (Attention Shoppers)
Rank on this album: 7
A beautifully-engulfing melody of voices. This is one of the things that the Little Stevies have always been the best at, and this just shows they’re still fantastic!

12. Boy, You’re A Nuisance

Reminds me of: ?
Rank on this album: 11
A song from Bethany to Sibyilla’s recently-born baby. It’s a lovely song, except for a particular note in the chorus that isn’t off, but just sound a bit too high and out of place. I’ve listened to it so many times now that I’m starting to get use to it, but it just sound too penultimate to be sung that way for every chorus.

Overall

One funny thing I noticed about most of the songs on Diamonds For Your Tea was that location gets a mention in the first verse of many of these songs. Leaving, feeling at home, wanting to stay, wanting to go back; every possible attitude is covered. I guess this may have to do with the busy touring schedule the Little Stevies keep, travelling all over the place.

Much like Paramore’s new album, there’s something clearly different in the Little Stevies sound on Diamonds For Your Tea, but it’s hard to put your finger on exactly. For one thing, there’s less of a variety of instruments used on this album to earlier ones. Previously they had used a real ranging mixture of things, from horns (The Day We Went Away) and harmonica (Want You To Feel) to organs (People Need People) and accordion (The Two Loves of His Life (Tram Song)). This, along with just having the two female voices (rather three including one male) meant that some spots lack harmonic depth in comparison to their old stuff.
Having said that, the lyrics in these songs are clearly more mature than previous works. They come from someone who’s writing about a new time in their life. The focus has moved from boyfriends, travelling and “walking down St Kilda pier”, to husbands, children, and finding your place in the world. It’s really thought-provoking having more contemplative tracks, but the Little Stevies always had a few of these kind of songs.
In fact, that’s one of the things I love most about them: the wide range of their repertoire. However, the majority of the songs on this album are more mellow than that of the Little Stevies’ previous albums. They always had some mellow songs, but on other albums, these were balanced out by the fun, upbeat stuff. To my ear, many of the songs on Diamonds For Your Tea sound just as good, if not better, played at 1.5x speed.
Now, don’t let these seemingly negative comments overwhelm your opinion of this album. It really is good; it’s just not my favourite of The Little Stevies, and frankly, their past work has set them some pretty damn high standards to live up to.

RATING: 8.5/10

So, have you ever heard of The Little Stevies? What’s your favourite of their songs? Did you pre-order Diamonds For Your Tea? What do you think? Did it live up to your expectations? Have I said anything you disagree with? Tell me & everyone else who passes through here what you think in the comment below.

To Infinity and Beyond,

Nitemice

P.S. I wrote this whole blog in Markdown, which is a first, and I think I’ll be doing it from now on.

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• A New Found Confidence (thelittlestevies.com)