Bluejuice - Company (Album)

When reviewing lots of albums, it’s nice when one comes along that you are genuinely excited about. While often I find hidden gems when listening to an artist I’ve never heard of, I can’t deny my excitement when given the task of reviewing Bluejuice’s third LP ‘Company’. Ever since their breakout indie hit ‘Vitriol’, the band has been a favourite for many, particularly live, where their cheeky, sweaty and slightly ska tinged pop rock really comes into its own.

Bluejuice reached a bigger audition and even ARIA nominations for their 2009 sophomore release, ‘Head of the Hawk’. How exactly does this album compare to that much celebrated album that spawned the infectious hits, ‘Broken Leg’ and ‘I Ain’t Telling the Truth’? To be honest, it makes ‘Head of the Hawk’ look slightly amateurish. Their two previous albums have been home to killer tracks, but they haven’t really managed to put a solid and consistent set of songs together right the way through. Until now. ‘Company’ manages to see Bluejuice still explore their cheeky nature to their heart's content and exhibit that X-factor we love so much about them, while providing consistent quality. Songs still vary in terms of content, style and “danceworthiness” from one to another.

The band released one song for download on their website well before the album’s release. ‘Cheap Trix’ got fans abuzz with what they could expect from the forthcoming album due to the song’s incredible and undeniable energy. The first actual single lifted from ‘Company’ was ‘Act Yr Age’. It has all the vital ingredients in it that made ‘Vitriol’ and ‘Broken Leg’ such big hits. It has a very "sing-along-able" chorus, and an undeniable sense of immaturity that is immediately appealing. The production on this track is particularly impressive, as is the album as a whole. Although when playing live, there’s no way the band could sound quite as polished, they’ve created an album that should be able to sound really impressive live. As we’ll find out this summer when they head around the country as part of the circus that is the Big Day Out.

First track ‘Can’t Keep Up’ kicks of with piano that starts low and rises into an upbeat verse, before unfolding into a pretty eclectic and fun chorus. Pianos, keyboards and synths are staples of this album. And it's one of the key ways Bluejuice distinguish themselves from other Australian rock outfits.

One of the best numbers on the disc is ‘Recession’, which seems to be a song about a guy telling his girlfriend that he loves her but can’t afford to buy her gifts and decides to break up with her due to the economic downturn. That’s my guess anyway, and if so, certainly marks different songwriting fodder for the band. Not only that, but the intro to the song begins with, ‘This is the winter of our Discotheque’. Mixing up famous quotes of Shakespeare is certainly something new, but it works well. My theory about the storyline is somewhat validated with the chorus lyrics; ‘As much as I love you girl, I will have to let your go, as much as I love you girl, it’s a recession you know-ooh-owwoh’.

Other highlights include ‘Aspen, New York’, ‘Shock’, ‘Kindaevil’ and the downbeat but brilliant ‘On My Own’. The quality of music on this release is rather grand. Again when I say how much better it is than their first two albums, that is not to downplay their quality, but instead to just demonstrate just how great ‘Company’ is.

Big choruses, cheeky fun, piano ladden rock and catchy vocals make Bluejuice’s third album easily their best of their short career. The other reviews have been stunning and if you take just one listen to ‘Company’, it’s easy to see why.

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