Spinning Top Music (Label)
May 31, 2024 (release)
6 hr
Australian singer-songwriter Peter Bibby's latest album, Drama King, will be released by Spinning Top Music on May 31. This will be his fourth album – four years since his last album, Marge, and almost a decade since his first studio release in 2014.
Proud and profane, Bibby strives for his existence through his natural talent for storytelling. He is as raw and brutally honest as Shane McGowan, sharing the same brutality in imparting true “common man” realism to his audience.
Bibby starts off “Drama King” with a country accent, rock n' roll rhythms, guitar solos, and country, folk, punk and rock influences. The folky and punk-inspired opening track “The Arsehole” recalls fellow troubadours Bob Dylan and Joe Strummer. His dry humor is “speaking for itself” along with his outspoken attitude. The wild and anarchic “Fun Guy” is one of the most punk, angry and demonic tracks on the album. As Bibby growls like a demon, we learn about the dark life he lived before he got sober.
“Bin Boy” is about feeling like a garbage dump, he compares himself to a garbage can. Bibby is a suburban straight talker we can relate to. He shares his tragic comments and doesn't spare any details. With a thundering guitar in hand, Bibby expresses every emotion he can. The tension rises on the next track as Bibby talks about his “soul mate”, sounding painful and full of self-loathing.
Leading the band into lighter, brighter territory, “Bruno” recalls The Shins, with keyboards, drums and light backing vocal arrangements cutting into Bibby's bold vocals. “Baby Squid” is a shocking descent into insanity that takes its cue from the Pixies-esque “quiet but loud” approach. The devastatingly poetic “Terracotta Brick” tugs at our heartstrings as Bibby romanticizes about bricklaying, morning cans of beer and the filthy dog that bit him. Still exuding authenticity, his vocals crack on the line “unforgiving asshole” and “Turtle in the Sand” finds him struggling to sing about devastating heartbreak and anguish. Coupled with thumping cymbals, Bibby drowns in emotion through waves of sound.
“Feels” is a dizzying punk rock anthem laced with fierce, dissonant guitars; Bibby is at his most frenetic and raucous. “The Pricks” is tuned to the same frequency as The Strokes; you can hear their signature precise guitar skills and new wave sensibilities, but it's not as clean or polished; but Bibby's songs are nothing like that. The penultimate track, “Old DC,” is a bittersweet country ballad with plenty of twang. Bibby closes the album with a horse story on “Companion Pony,” advising the horses (and us) to “keep on running,” with the help of backing singers.
Drama King is as emotional, wild and gritty as Peter Bibby himself, and I highly recommend giving it a try.
Track listing:
1. Anal
2. Fun people
3. Binboy
4. The One
5. Bruno
6. Baby squid
7. Terracotta bricks
8. Turtles in the sand
9. Feel
10. Prick
11. Old DC
12. Companion Pony