Declan Kelly Presents Diesel N’ Dub

The son of a Maori mother and an Irish father, Sydney-based drummer Kelly regularly fronts his own band The Rising Sun and backs numerous well-known Australian artists. His latest project is a tribute to iconic Aussie rock band Midnight Oil – known for their championing of Aboriginal rights in their music. Covering the group's classic songbook with an all-star cast of both indigenous and non-indigenous vocalists, the album has been expertly mixed by UK dub producer Mad Professor.

The heady collection kicks off with Gumbaynggirr singer Emma Donovan's soulful version of ‘The Dead Heart’, followed by Kamilaroi/Tongan songwriter Radical Son (David Leha) who covers ‘Short Memory’. Katie Noonan's sweet-voiced ‘Power and the Passion’ is a lot more laidback than the original, while UK-based Jamaican Pat Powell's take of ‘Read About It’ – backed by female duo The Stiff Gins – recalls Linton Kwesi Johnson's 80s dub poetry. Powell also teams with Pitjantjatjara songman Frank Yamma on ‘Beds Are Burning’.

The reggae treatment of what originally were bombastic rock tunes works pretty well for the most part, although inevitably there are a couple of near-misses. The usually brilliant jazz vocalist Tina Harrod sounds strained on ‘Put Down That Weapon’ and pop singer Alex Lloyd's voice is too thin to carry ‘Armistice Day’. But Kelly's crisp drumming flows throughout the album, and he fronts the delicate ‘Truganini’ highly successfully, while Mad Professor gets a chance to stretch his dub fingers on the closing remix.