CD: BLUE111.2
RELEASED: 2007
LABEL: Blue

01. Yes Sir I Can Boogee
02. Cold and the Crackle
03. Plog
04. The Marriage Is a Mess
05. Brother Norbert
06. Little King
07. Sing Sing
08. Clay
09. Kerry's Green
10. Under Roof, Under Tree
11. Sitting
12. Going Up the Country

Not Drowning, Waving were a musical group formed in Melbourne in the 1980s. Their music combined elements of rock, ambient music and world music; their lyrics dealt with characteristically Australian topic: word-pictures of landscapes and people, the seasons, and some political issues. Critics loved NDW because they demanded adjectives. Their music was haunting, evocative, brooding, sensuous and a million other words that excite people who type for a living. Looking back, the adulation that tailed them probably lent an image of pretentiousness, though the band did little to deserve that millstone. In record stores, you could usually find NDW filed under ambient or art-rock, ill-fitting labels if ever there were. Truth is, the band were often minimalist, but they never made background music. If NDW were misunderstood, it was most likely because they were ambitious and forgot to do the Australian thing and apologise for it. They bypassed the accepted career path of finding a sound and then polishing it into a single, shining signature note. NDW made half a dozen albums and a couple of film soundtracks in the decade they spent together. Another Pond, the debut, was recorded in a spare room and feels like the blueprint it is, a definition of the stillness at the core of the NDW sound and a declaration of intent to move away from it. The Little Desert followed, a stately, almost entirely instrumental album which was conjured in a church in Elsternwick, but calls to mind the beautiful and unsettling landscapes of outback Australia. Cold And The Crackle pushed outwards and inwards, balancing those landscapes with portraits, contrasting wide open road with claustrophobic suburb, filmic vista with sinewy groove.

Influences / Similar Artists:
David Bridie, My Friend The Chocolate Cake, Talk Talk