A few months back I asked, on the Sound Doctrine facebook, what my loyal and lovely constituent thought the best song of the year to be. I put forward Dick Diver’s New Name Blues as a very possible candidate and now October deep, I don’t think that’s changed. My number two spot however, may have just been filled by the one and only Peter Bibby. I am very [very] privileged to have listened to the album roughs of this forthcoming Bibby record and I [very] promise you it’s that it is one of the more valuable records of the year and that Bibby is one of the key prospects of Australian music over the next decade. I sat with my buddy James on Thursday of night last week listening to Nick Cave and wondering if Australian music [consumption] would ever be as open to storytelling as it once was so as to allow for future Nick Caves. Courtney Barnett is a damn promising prospect and something that offers a counter discourse to the hook laden, production focused Oz music success stories of the past few years and it’s going to be a ride as we watch and see if she can establish a similar cult following as our man Cave. I don’t want to put Bibby next to Barnett simply because they both have an Australian drawl and write songs from personal experience (I haven’t read anything on Bibby before but I’ve no doubt the comparison is often made) so we’ll leave CB back there and just talk about this damn song. It’s no secret that Bibby loves a beverage (his band is The Bottles Of Confidence) and here on this track he sings about his girl’s desire to see him extricated from the habit. Seemingly his love of sauce is as uncompromising as his songwriting, so sayeth that last line but I’ll let you get to that yourself. It’s hard to focus on any one lyric when you’re tapping a vein this rich. It doesn’t have the social gravitas of New Name Blues but it’s real life, listen to it over and over and just ingest the thing.
She loves my soul but she hates my drinking
If you haven’t before, take a moment to listen to Medicine. There’s not a whole lot online from Bibby still but plenty on the cusp. If the guy can retain his sense of self while continuing to write new and similarly captivating songs, the sky’s the limit.* For bonus viewing and reading, watch a live video of Bibby performing Medicine and read his pick for ‘Best Song of 2013 as part of the Sound Doctrine 2013 wrap-up.
*Although more likely 8-10 thousand record sales is the limit, unless commercial station directors drunkenly add him rotation sometime over the next decade. Record sales tho, who needs ‘em.
For Cool Accidents HIS OWN DAMN SELF
