KILLER
(Liberation)
7/10
To become exceptional all artists must learn to see the world through others’ eyes while simultaneously becoming more perspicacious and honest about themselves. Several tracks on Killer confirm Dan Sultan (with help from multiple song-writing collaborators) has arrived there. Drover, for instance, which is set during the 1966 Wave Hill Walk-Off (and is described as a “prequel” to From Little Things Big Things Grow), has Sultan looking deep inside the mind of a drover contemplating strike action, the song gospel-tinged and sung with the raw power that is bred of defiance.
Then he generates the anthemic Kingdom, faces the abyss of over-indulgence in the potent, soul-based Magnetic and stares into the confronting mirror that is Easier Man. Produced by Jan Skubiszweski, the album’s music dips into diverse textural territory, with Hold It Together one that may have been more compelling stripped back to just an acoustic guitar, while the title track would be a throwaway but for an interesting bridge. Yet Sultan lifts many songs just by the conviction in his singing.