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15 June, 2008
Jetty-Soundtrack For Modern Heartbreak -album review
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Jetty
Soundtrack For Modern Heartbreak
(Powertool Records)

It must be ten years now since Jetty ruled the student radio airwaves in Dunedin. The Robin Sharma-fronted four piece somehow managed to connect the past to the present, by echoing early Clean while still sounding contemporary.

Soundtrack For Modern Heartbreak was originally released in 1997, in an edition of only 100. Now Auckland's Powertool Records has made it available to all comers. And rightfully so, as it's an undeclared classic.

At the time of its release the very last vestiges of what had been a vibrant music scene were still evident in Dunedin. It had regenerated itself for about three distinct generations, but in the mid-90s had fallen into decline. Jetty resonated with what had been but without sounding overly nostalgic. Theirs was more of a celebration, in much the same way that Onanon now feels like a celebration of a certain time in Dunedin music without losing any of the vitality of something still living.

Sharma was, and probably still is, a great front man. And he was ably backed by drummer Martin Sadler, guitarist Gary Dalhousie, and bassist Andrew Barsby. They all had some pedigree in the Dunedin scene, and I'm sure they all look back on Jetty with fondness.

The band's greatest strength was their songs, which were often messy paeans to bohemian life in Dunedin. Redolent of American acts of the early `90s like Pavement, Guided By Voices and Sebadoh, along with the obvious Clean and Chills, they were both charmingly naïve and knowing.

Amongst the best are the minute long Started With A Kiss, the more raucous strains of Shiny Radio and Sonic Youth, and the slower Purakanui. There's plenty in between though, and that melodic sense is always present. Perhaps the best of all is White Boys On Punk, which in retrospect sounds like a manifesto.

And a lament for a time recently passed. 10 years. Perhaps 20. Whichever, it's still missed. Though Soundtrack For Modern Heartbreak helps.

Gavin Bertram

Editors note: Jetty have yet to create a profile on this site.
Posted by scott

Posted by scott
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