Custom Kings - Great Escape

19 August 2010 by Richard Wilson

Custom Kings are back with Great Escape after an extended break that has been filled with critically acclaimed sideprojects. The second album from the Melbourne outfit sees the group reunite to for their finest release to date. 

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Collaborating once again with Steven Schram, producer of Custom Kings' At Sea and last year's side project Joe Neptune, Great Escape is a treble-heavy pop rock album of surprising depth, expertly evoking a 1960s California surf sound that draws an easy comparison to The Beach Boys. Perhaps a bit closer to home and this decade is the obvious similarities in sound to Little Red. Given Schram's credits as producer include their last album and the two bands share an obvious love of the melodious AM sound of the 1960s, it's not really a surprising comparison. Where Little Red are a fun, loose band, Custom Kings on Great Escape take a tighter tack that makes for an album that's mellow and unassuming.

The Custom Kings have an inherent knack for melody and harmony. There are hooks in each and every song that enter your brain and make you think you've heard this song before. The low-key harmonies of Wild Leaves sees The Custom Kings sophomore release get off to a chilled start; it's with the pulsating drums and jangly guitars of Sunday that the voice of Great Escape comes to the surface.

It's far from all throwbacks to 60s rock 'n' roll. The vintage amps happily share the soundscape with no shortage of synth, samples and modern guitar effects. At the same time though, it's an album that feels less like a  Who Will Be The One perhaps the best example of this merging of eras; and will surely have a prominent place on the soundtrack of the 2010/11 summer for many. In fact much of Great Escape seems to evoke the festival experience of warm cans of beer under a hot sun in the same way that Pez's 'Festival Song' kickstarted last summer.

At the same time, hints of the acoustic sounds that populated their earlier works have largely been replaced with chilled rock numbers. The catchy I Remember The Good Times floats by effortlessly, the flute on Forward adds dark undertones, and Indigo, is a soft shuffle that fittingly serves as the the requisite mellow album closer .

As the days start to get longer, the days warmer you need music to match. Custom Kings' Great Escape fits the bill perfectly.

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