Bart and Friends, Make You Blush EP

review by dave heaton

”None of These Things”, the last song on Bart and Friends’ new EP, fades abruptly at 57 seconds, after singer Bart Cummings has admitted that the romantic scene he’s been describing is all in his head: “None of these things turned out to be real”. It was just his imagination, running away with him. Romantic disillusionment, one of the grand themes of popular music, is captured eloquently by that fade-out, and by the brevity of these songs in general. “Make You Blush”, the title track, is about the same length as “None of These Things”, just under a minute. It captures the promise of romance, its brevity suggesting the fleeting nature that others songs vocalize.

Cummings’ shy voice is perfectly suited to the four songs he sings, come-ons sung like secret wishes. The other four, every other one, are sung by one of indie-pop’s great melancholic sings, with a real gift at capturing both dreams and disappointment. That’s Pam Berry, Cummings’ one-time partner in the Shapiros. She sings another of those shy come-ons, sounding more tender than sad (“Weave Your Name”), a ballad of romantic promises crushed (“A Sweet Dream”), a clever cover of Rodgers and Hart’s “Blue Moon”, and an anthem of communication failure: “these words are too small / for what I’m trying to say” (“These Words Are Too Small”). Guitars and drums ring forcefully but in a haze, so appropriate for music where longings run wild like rivers and deep, but evaporate.

{www.lostandlonesome.com.au}