On Thrush Metal — Stella Donnelly's potent debut, now seeing a slightly expanded re-release in North America after scooping up a swath of Western Australian Music Awards last year — the Perth-based songwriter excoriates modern-day bullshit with a guitar and a commanding voice.
"Mechanical Bull" is a middle finger to overly aggressive advances, while "Boys Will Be Boys" finds Donnelly tearing apart excuses made for sexual assault and rape in a waltzing lullaby tone. "Mean to Me" underscores Donnelly's vocal dexterity, while "Talking," this re-release's new addition, sizes up a diminishing relationship: "I scatter all the eggshells / In the hallway for when you get home."
Throughout the EP, Donnelly uses minimal instrumentation: mostly guitar and voice, with an occasional flourish of something else. But that minimalism is more than effective: Thrush Metal showcases the nascent talent of a songwriter with her ear trained on the here and now.
(Secretly Canadian)"Mechanical Bull" is a middle finger to overly aggressive advances, while "Boys Will Be Boys" finds Donnelly tearing apart excuses made for sexual assault and rape in a waltzing lullaby tone. "Mean to Me" underscores Donnelly's vocal dexterity, while "Talking," this re-release's new addition, sizes up a diminishing relationship: "I scatter all the eggshells / In the hallway for when you get home."
Throughout the EP, Donnelly uses minimal instrumentation: mostly guitar and voice, with an occasional flourish of something else. But that minimalism is more than effective: Thrush Metal showcases the nascent talent of a songwriter with her ear trained on the here and now.
