Josh Pyke - 'Feeding The Wolves' (Island) Released 16/10/06

Sydney's singer-songwriter Josh Pyke delivers a 7 track mini-album of acoustic homilies with reason to sit up and take note, in the manner of the Aussie tastemakers. With a penchant for songwriters Elliott Smith, Sparklehorse and Evan Dando, Josh gets it out there with a voice like Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook and a nap-sack of cherished tunes delivered with broad appeal.

'Beg Your Pardon' is a polite, well-mannered song with a sweet, lazy cadence with xylophone incursions and harmonica wheezes, Josh singing the refrain "...you're drawn to him so I get drawn away...". 'Private Education' has the Antipodean bon homie of the Finn Brothers with "...so forgive me for what I've done/ and forgive me for what I might do..." with personal-redemption endless verbiage and a soft-rock lilt. The holes are addressed in the standout track 'Fill You In' - this has the feel of something Morrissey might sing to himself when doing his tie in the morning - with portents of doom scattered throughout from the weatherman to the poetic "...and the very next day when the grass did blade/ and it cut right through me...", there's lots of vacant spaces and passing through, the vulnerability of just being here and a wintry disenchanted tune. The acoustic guitar is sparkly on 'Goldmines' with a painted scene - "...there's a vastness/ and it looks empty...it's a ****ing a wasteland..." of the mind, the most impersonal track residing here. 'Middle Of The Hill' is a walk down his childhood memories with a rhythmic delivery and 'Staring Down The Sun' another stocking-filler. 'Feeding The Wolves' is a tangle with emotions, and the couplet "...please don't pack your summer clothes/ 'cause there's still gardens I wanna grow with you..." providing the modest title track.

'Feeding The Wolves' is a humble-pie as appetiser and a taster of a man who has an ear for melody and a dainty tune. With songwriting to the fore, 'Feeding The Wolves' plops like a stone into a lake leaving gentle eddies on the mind - hearty songs that this budding force may prosper with. A Finn Brother of the Red Earth.