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Date Posted: 07:37:05 07/08/02 Mon
Author: elizabeth
Subject: nutha article and a question

~i've seriously become a silverchair article whore~ but thats A ok with me :) But i do have a question.. a lot of these articles are saying daniels arthritis was brought on by his eating disorder... but for some reason i thought the arthritis was a genetic thing and unrelated, can anyone clear this up?

Silverchair moves to pop mainstream
Australian trio still has songs to please die-hard grunge fans

By RON FOLEY MACDONALD


Silverchair — Diorama (Atlantic/Warners)

-----

The Australian trio Silverchair was never one of my favourite bands. Emerging in the wake of the grunge movement, the impossibly young group — only 15 at the time of their first international success with the album Frogstomp — mastered a tight blend of the sounds of classic Seattle bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

Seven years later, Silverchair is back with its debut album on the prestigious American label Atlantic. Astonishingly, Diorama’s 11 tracks reveal almost no resemblance to Silverchair’s previous angsty, sturm-and-drang work.

Instead, Silverchair’s leader, the guitarist/vocalist and songwriter Daniel Johns has moved the band firmly over to the pop mainstream. The songs on Diorama are mostly piano-driven, grand and sophisticated tunes that recall the lush ’60s work of the likes of Brian Wilson and Jimmy Webb. With three tunes arranged by the legendary California eccentric Van Dyke Parks, it’s no wonder that Diorama seems so wonderfully unlikely.

On first listen, the album sounds a bit ridiculous. Imagine Van Halen produced by Burt Bacharach, or Rush rewritten by Philip Glass. A few more spins, however, and Diorama yields an extraordinary motherlode of rich, textured and intriguing postmodern pop.

Each song is an audio adventure. The first single, The Greatest View, wanders from hard rock to lush pop to dramatic balladry, all within the confines of a concise four-minute arrangement. Johns shifts gears so many times it’s a wonder he doesn’t get lost.

The fury and precision of the band’s previous work, however, is neatly translated into The Greatest View’s lilting, unforgettable chorus.

The album’s opener, Across The Night, state’s Diorama’s brave new direction in its very first minute.

Over a harpsichord-driven rhythm arrangement, Johns uncoils a melody line that darts and battles with what sounds like a full orchestra. Amidst the oboes, strings and exotic percussion, the song maintains a remarkable grounding in Silverchair’s immediate and accessible approach.

It’s clear that Johns and his two bandmates haven’t quite lost their heads here; rather, they’ve simply stretched out into more ambitious territory.

There are a couple of selections on the album that might mollify Silverchair fans who long for the band’s previous groan-and-smash sound. One Way Mule is a midtempo stomp with a gloomy outlook that grinds along grimly enough for any grunge fan to get his or her fill. And Lever provides a bright, angry break from the album’s generally happy and optimistic tone.

Diorama’s high points, however, are clearly marked by the lush, bright pop of tunes like World Upon Your Shoulders, Too Much of Not Enough and Tuna In the Brine. These are songs that have, by a quick read of some of the Australian press quotes, already helped change the image of Silverchair from grunge wannabes to pop visionaries.

Diorama has already topped the charts in Silverchair’s native Australia. North American acceptance might take a bit longer, especially since the band can no longer tour because of Johns’s unfortunate bout of premature arthritis brought on by his struggle with anorexia.

Even if these conditions force Silverchair to remain studio-bound, the band’s new direction is delightfully unexpected. Diorama is an extraordinary album by any measure, and it marks Daniel Johns’s move to up to the rarified league of utterly original — and newly influential — musical artists.

© Copyright 2002 The Daily News

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