Music reviews: Jim O'Rourke, Hot Chip, Thee Oh Sees

The press release for Jim O’Rourke’s sixth album says: “There ARE no simple songs – only simple people.”

Simple Songs may be the prolific indie avant-garde artist’s first conventional singer-songwriter “pop” album in well over a decade, but even compared to the vast scope of his experimental recordings, nothing the enigmatic O’Rourke does could ever be labelled simple. Songs with a verse and chorus are about as straightforward pop as the left-field guitarist gets.

The 1970s pop rock of Half Life Crisis begins like Elton John, with a stomping piano and sweet harmonies driving the song before drifting off into a carnival-esque outro. The theme runs throughout the record, the piano-led songs are layered with lush string arrangements that then begin to shift the track towards a more orchestral and abstract direction, the quiet vocals almost becoming insignificant as they are overawed by the colourful textures and instrumentation.

These may be simple songs in the eccentric mind of O’Rourke, but they still possess a magical and adventurous beauty.

Jim O’Rourke Simple Songs (Drag City Records)