Marilyn Rose & The Thorns : Antarctica
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Marilyn Rose & The Thorns : Antarctica

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Douglas Mawson’s 1912 Antarctic expedition is an enthralling and harrowing story of human tragedy and endurance.  Weather conditions were brutal, the terrain treacherous.  With their bodies suffering the effects of malnutrition – a consequence of consuming the husky dogs enlisted to pull the party’s sleds, one of Mawson’s party went mad, and another fell to his death in a crevice.  Mawson himself narrowly escaped the same fate;  his physical and spiritual resilience saw him miraculously survive, only to arrive back at camp to see his transport vessel disappearing into the distance, not due back for another six months. 

What does that have to do with Marilyn Rose and the Thorns’ album, Antarctica?  Well not a lot, other than Mawson’s Antarctica is a good story, and Antarctica is a good album.  The adventure starts with a Killing Joke rumble, an injection of post-punk guitar and then some in the title track; it continues with a faithful cover of The Scientists’ Set It On FireFallen Angel is dark and intense, noir for the Dirty Three generation, Dead Radio and Wild Horse Plain are two sides of a dirt highway between Neil Young and Siouxsie Sioux. 

Falling is Julie Cruise descending headlong into a Gun Club trip; Under the Sea is a smoky cabaret dream from which you don’t need to leave.  Silver City Highway is a bit of Morricone, a nod to subliminal Spaghetti Western influences that can never be denied, Spiderwoman is the Divinyls on a quest to find their inner Sabbath; there’s also a bonus track that’s replete with 19th century poetic imagery, idle musings on the beauty of sunshine.  Douglas Mawson would’ve appreciated those musings, as he stared across the vast Antarctic landscape waiting for his adventure to end.

BY PATRICK EMERY