Michael Peter – Something Along Those Lines

Something Along Those Lines is the debut album for NSW Central Coast based singer/songwriter Michael Peter.

Michael Peter – Something
Along these Lines
by Chris Spencer
From the opening guitar
chords of the fi rst track, “May”
Peter grabbed my attention.
It has a delicate opening, before a
funky bass kicks in halfway through.
It also has an unusual harmony
arrangement.
It’s the strongest track on the
album, but it’s not a case of ‘all
downhill from there’ as the album
has many other highlights.
Michael Peter has been
performing regularly along the East
coast and has already released 2
previous recordings.
This is his fi rst full length album,
but I am unsure if any of the tracks
on this recording have appeared on
previous eps.
It’s not a folk album – it’s more
rock and pop with some songs
written in a different genre, nor
does it seem a singer-songwriter
recording for most of the tracks
have a full rock band accompanying
the singer – ie electric guitar, drums,
bass.
“My Favourite” is an upbeat pop
song, while “Shop around” is an
electric guitar feast; rocky almost
grungey in feel.
It relates the exacerbation of
shopping in large shopping centres
– similar to the sentiments of a song
on Nerida’s album I reviewed a
couple of issues ago.
Track 4, “Heads Up” slows the
pace down again using a simple
accompaniment of electric piano
and piano accordion.
“Spider” features some bluesy/
rootsy slide guitar and chugging
chords.
“Hypersensitive” is a ballad that
has violins in the mix, but Peter also
varies the rhythms to add interest to
the song.
“Feminine Skin” has perhaps, the
most challenging subject matter,
that of a wife of a man who enjoys
dressing up in women’s clothing.
Other topics covered include
love, refl ection on the historical past
(“The Story”), “Spider” could be
about domestic violence; Golden
Handcuffs is about working in a
mine while “Naughty Thing” is about
lust with its swaggering rhythm.
“A Little More” has a Chris Isaak
ambient feel about it.
Meanwhile, the album fi nishes
with the gentle but with the
contrasting title, “Monsters to a
Child”, living with the consequences
of war.
An impressive album, and one
that you could come back to listen
again and again.