One of the few true shocks in rock music is when a young band with a seemingly short shelf life manages to transform itself into a cohesive, enduring, and artistically diverse outfit. Take
Silverchair, whose plodding angst anthems were the subject of much ridicule during the group's initial splash. But they somehow kept going and kept improving, and
Diorama is the sound of a band finally growing into their own skin. These songs have a sense of space and tunefulness that was always missing from the band's previous efforts, and the production (by
David Bottrill, with orchestrations courtesy of
Van Dyke Parks) brings to mind everything from the charging anthems of
Big Country to
U2's first experiments with
Brian Eno. Singer
Daniel Johns steps into the forefront here, showcasing his rich voice and shockingly catchy, twisting tunes with melodies that are hardly predictable but often delightful. His efforts recall deceased
singer/songwriter Josh Clayton-Felt, as they utilize a similar vocal approach and channel the same sort of
psychedelic soul on tracks like
"Tuna in the Brine." A song like
"World Upon Your Shoulders" sounds utterly unlike the post-grunge efforts of
Johns' earlier work, but in one song he takes the washed-out symphonies of
Soft Bulletin-era
Flaming Lips and the delicate falsetto
pop of
Jeff Buckley and combines them into a digestible
pop nugget. The solid guitar work from
Johns also shows growth, as the songs often drift into
Edge-like noodling that compliments his voice much more than the chugging riffs of their first few albums.
"Without You"'s
Goo Goo Dolls-lite is an unwelcome twist, taking their newfound sense of melody and giving it a blustery chorus that robs the track of its power. The thick
"One Way Mule" is another minor disappointment, reverting back to
Silverchair's
grunge sound for a song that has little of the intelligence and beauty of the rest of the album. But mostly this is a wonderful surprise from a band thought to have been finished in the late '90s. Being hesitant to give this a chance is perfectly understandable, but
Silverchair has grown up and put together a fine mix of orchestral
pop and
rock on
Diorama. ~ Bradley Torreano
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