Spiral Stairs (Scott Kannberg) has been extremely busy since Pavement’s dissolution, running his own record label (Amazing Grease) & putting out two records with his new band, Preston School of Industry, including this year’s superb “Monsoon” album.

To celebrate Spiral is at last bringing his full band line-up (including pedal steel!) back to Australia for a run of east coast shows in September, as well as releasing a very special tour EP, “The Furnace Sun”, to coincide with their arrival. Show details are below.

“Monsoon” continues like many of Spiral’s classic songs, setting a confident, effortless beat to a literate and mischievous rock sound as informed by Echo and the Bunnymen, the Clean, and the Fall as by Neil Young, Lou Reed, and John Prine. But while previous album “All This Sounds Gas” was largely an assortment of songs he’d had laying around over time, these songs were written specifically for “Monsoon”, with no baggage or ghosts, and with all the looseness and confidence that suggests. Each listen reveals a sneaky and brilliant touch that’s easily overlooked amid the songs’ hummability; Spiral’s abundance of ideas never bogs down the tunes. He even gets help from Wilco on “Get Your Crayons Out!”.

Dates Played

BRISBANE
When: Thu 09-09-04
Where: The Zoo

SYDNEY
When: Fri 10-09-04
Where: Annandale Hotel

MELBOURNE
When: Sat 11-09-04
Where: Corner Hotel

ADELAIDE
When: Thu 16-09-04
Where: Jade Monkey

MELBOURNE
When: Sun 19-09-04
Where: The Tote