- Hrrm, we don’t often review covers records, but I think this one might be worth it. A bit of contextualisation: I didn’t need to see former Something For Kate frontman Paul Dempsey talking in a smooth but scholarly manner to Jennifer Byrne (whose piercing gaze can set fire to small animals) on First Tuesday Of The Month Book Club, to know that he was better informed (not to mention groomed) than your average, stubbly rocker.

His brand new covers record, Shotgun Karaoke is, nonetheless, better versed in recent music history than I was expecting and, in much the same manner as his relaxed and just plain stylish presentation on air, this album presents its musical learnings without ever being overweeningly recondite (unlike, say, the word recondite).

It’s a cliche to say that covers albums are always a risky proposition. Paul Dempsey, however, seems so sure of his footing here that he ups the ante and approaches this bunch of cultish classics with only his guitar and gritty but soaring voice. It’s that second one which allows him to pull off some of these gambits, like a quite convincing impression of Queen’s I Wanna Break Free. I especially like his vocalise of Brian May’s solo: cheeky but effective.

As mentioned, Dempsey’s knowledge of pop music from the last thirty years also makes this work. Songs like Archers Of Loaf’s Web In Front or Hüsker Dü’s Don’t Wanna Know are bona fide classics and they’ve drifted just far enough from the public consciousness to make their return a nostalgic pleasure. Australian entries - You Am I’s beloved Berlin Chair and a cut from rising star Courtney Barnett - like everything else here, they neatly fill a gap in the whole and sound pretty good doing so.

I have to cop to the fact that, part of the reason this works so well for me, is probably because you can measure the difference in age between Dempsey and I in days. So mi nostalgia su nostalgia. Having said that, I also have more compelling (teenage, hormonal) connections to many of the original versions of these songs than most. I’ll be honest, I did have a twinge or two knowing that the proper guitar sound wasn’t going to come crashing in through the chorus of I Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely, but the trademark, stark beauty that Dempsey adds to songs like Concrete Blonde’s Caroline… that’s a powerful achievement.

A finely balanced mixture of repertoire, native skill and stylistic reinterpretation, if covers records are a big risk, Shotgun Karaoke pays off more handsomely than I could have imagined, in every respect.

- Chris Cobcroft