The Thousands

With a croon that could clobber Morrissey and a mighty big organ (that he loves to play with, of course), Des Miller is the sort of soft-spoken satirist that Stephen Merritt and Jens Lekman get in sissy-bitch cat fights over.** The debut from this 25-year-old Annandale lad, ON THE SURFACE OF SOLITUDE builds on Miller’s strong songwriting with countrified back-up band (tremolo, pedal steel, slide guitar, all that yee-haw). It sounds fresh and relaxed. We’ve had a lot of adrenaline and attitude pumping through the airwaves lately, So pomade your pompadour and button-up your paisley shirt (to the top, of course) – this is a nice change.