In Print  Home  Directories  Reviews  Get In Touch  Forums  Links  Gig Guide  

ROGUE GIRAFFE: Patience and Kindness

Describing themselves as an ‘experimental rock group’, the three members of this band have musical experience stretching back to the ’70s and ’80s, although this is their first album together. It’s ambitious in scope, moving from the folk-infused mantra of opening track A Common Place, through vaguely Nick Cave-esque piano ballads like the title track, and a number of spoken word atmospheric compositions. While main man Jeremy Roake’s lyrics are witty, eccentric and at times quite poetic, his spoken word delivery has more in common with a high country farmer than the sonorous tones of a Witi Ihimaera. Among the more successful tracks is the touching ode to a lost father that is Have Nae Forgotten Thee – ‘You’ll drift downstream on this lilo inflated with morphine’, while Hey Now Alexandra benefits from the softening effect of female vocals courtesy of the scary-sounding Marjorie Razorblade. But elsewhere tracks like Rattling Sky fail to lock into a solid groove, or in the case of the spoken word pieces, tend to meander without really building into anything you can hang your hat on. Still, Rogue Giraffe should be applauded for their creative ambitions, whether or not they could be said to have reached all their lofty goals.

Related Information