The Church - Uninvited Like The Clouds

Australian band The Church formed in 1980 and failed to attract much mainstream attention for the bulk of the first decade they existed. The dynamic of the band centred on the intelligent song writing of Steve Kilbey and the competitive atmosphere generated by his self-styled dominance. Having weathered continuous in-fighting and paltry commercial success for the sake of expressive freedom they have released 'Uninvited Like The Clouds' because, it seems, no one could come up with a better idea. Not surprisingly, the album lacks energy and sounds like it was a labour to get down. Like most bands reaching their twilight years The Church sound weary. Maturity and relative success have soothed internal conflict and replaced dynamism with stolid, eighties pop. Diplomacy may make for an easier life but we have all witnessed the creative demise of U2 since Bono became a politician and there is usually a reason the drummer never holds much clout in the songwriting department. [Jess Chilton]