MIDNIGHT OIL: The Makarrata Project (ALTERNATIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

It has been 18 (long) years since Midnight Oil, the flagship band of Australian rock in the 80s and 90s, had given no sign of recording life, Peter Garrett, its leader, having notably started a political carrier to pass on the ideas expressed until then in music.

And it is with a new political message to defend the rights of the Aboriginal First Nation that the group returns to us, by publishing "The Makarrata Project", a militant mini-album intended to support the project of the same name, initiated in 2017 to reconcile the entire Australian people and restore the rights of each person. Here I will let the reader immerse himself in the message by reading on the one hand the content of the artwork, and on the other hand by listening attentively to the first four minutes of the last title of the album, to focus this chronicle on the musical aspect of the object.

For the occasion, the band invited indigenous artists to join them, even letting them express themselves alone (i.e. without Peter Garrett) on two tracks of the album. The mix is thus particularly interesting, even if some tracks are somewhat different from the style of the australians.

This is not the case on the first two tracks, which can be described as pure Midnight Oil, with a 'First Nation' with a powerful bass, a rhythm that slams on the weak beats of the 4 beat measure, and a repetitive melody that immediately becomes ingrained with choirs on the chorus ... it's like going back 30 years, with a touch of modernity brought by a few moments of rap, not at all disturbing in the context. 'Gadigal Land' continues in the same vein, as does the typical 'Wind in my Head', which would certainly have been a powerful anthem in another era. The central part of the album is much quieter, with a soothing pop ballad carried by the piano ('Change the Date') and two acoustic tracks including the superb voice/piano effort of 'Terror Australia'.

More than just a musical work, 'The Makarrata Project' is part of a process that has been close to Peter Garrett's heart for many years. It is in this spirit that it is appropriate to approach the listening of this album which, if it is not 100% in the usual style of Midnight Oil, retranscribes in any case in a very beautiful way a struggle that has lasted for more than 250 years. It is just to be regretted that of the twenty tracks written for the occasion, only seven will have found their place on this mini-album. - Official website

MIDNIGHT OIL

THE MAKARRATA PROJECT

SONY MUSIC

ALTERNATIVE ROCK