Get Out While You Can

Aside from the singing phenomenon Gurrumul, Australia’s hottest indigenous musician these days is Dan Sultan. With an Irish father and an Aboriginal mother, Sultan grew up in inner-city Melbourne and as a result his music isn’t overtly Aboriginal. In fact he sometimes riles at being pigeonholed as an Aboriginal performer. Working closely with co-writer-producer and hotshot guitarist Scott Wilson, Sultan’s chosen genre is best typified as thoughtful country/rock, with a touch of soul. His 2006 debut album Homemade Biscuits established him as a formidable singer-songwriter, and the fact that he’s 26, good-looking, and has some killer dance moves hasn’t hurt him either. A part-time member of the all-star Black Arm Band and a featured actor in the recent film musical Bran Nue Dae, Sultan’s star is definitely on the rise

His second release finds him in a reflective, acoustic-oriented but still quite rocky mood. Utilising vintage equipment to evoke a warm 1950s-sounding ambience, Sultan’s impassioned lyrics revolve around hard-luck characters and poignant love stories. His twangy ‘Dingo’ – about a stolen guitar – sounds eerily like Elvis’ ‘That’s Alright Mama’ while ‘Fear of Flying’ features a distinct ‘Summertime Blues’ riff. The title-track tells a heart-wrenching tale of a couple’s forced separation, and the blazing ‘Cadillac and a Mustang’ rocks out like a Blues Brothers showpiece.

More complex than its predecessor, Get Out is an emotional rollercoaster that showcases Sultan’s rapidly maturing talent and hopefully sows the seeds for a long career.