Arts & Events

While this album, rock roots, with folk touches, breaks no new musical ground, Arden's knack of coming up with a snappy riff and an easy melody will have you singing the chorus's of his songs in the shower, the car or the bus stop.

This album is warm autumn afternoon, and is the work of a man clearly comfortable in his own skin, and in his own voice. This man, Dave Arden, has been around a while too, and this, his first album, shows that he’s learned a few things in his time playing with Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, Shane Howard, and more recently, the wonderfully named, Black Arm Band.

This is not their story though, and Arden’s take on life comes shining through. This story is resoundingly positive in tone, as Arden asserts his heritage, to, "find my identity" in the title track.

While this album, rock roots, with folk touches, breaks no new musical ground, Arden’s knack of coming up with a snappy riff and an easy melody will have you singing the chorus’s of his songs in the shower, car or at the bus stop. Songs like, 'So Young', written by Arden, but first recorded by Archie Roach, is light and lovely. 'I See, I Hear', perhaps the toughest track on the album, with a heartfelt vocal, tells the presumably auto-biographical story of his mothers time in the homes of South Australia, and, "the wounds to the heart" that she felt as she was separated from family.

On, 'Don’t Say It Isn’t So', Bruce Haymes piano and organ brings an understated touch that evokes the best of soul music. And in some senses, Dave Arden has picked up on that positive feeling that American soul music of the late 60s and early 70s evoked, and gives his own positive take on some of the harsh realities of life now.

Co-produced by Shane Howard, with musical assistance from the likes of No Fixed Address’s Bart Willoughby, Tiddas’ Amy Saunders, and Not Drowning Waving’s Helen Mountford, the sound is always sure, warm and uncluttered.

A little gem of a cd.