Songs for Lord Tortoise

The 19 tracks on Huon's Songs for Lord Tortoise CD combine noise, pop, distortion, audio experiments, blips, and bleeps to create a haunting and surprising collection. After the spooky first track, "Challenger," female vocals appear on the second track, "Complex," while Dave Nichols' restrained vocals first appear on "Words, Parasites." The Melbourne, Australia, quartet of Andrew Withycombe, Mia Schoen, David Nichols, and Ellen Turner creates a bright and intricate series of songs similar to other Australian bands like Sulk, Ashtray Boy, and the Cannanes, which Nichols was once a member of. Some of the poppier tracks are vaguely comparable to 14 Iced Bears. The band generally keeps things simple, but they add accordion to "Sandpaper." They add samples to some tracks, creating a loopy effect to the otherwise straightforward album. The extra ingredients to the musical mix make it a somewhat groundbreaking effort. The invigorating piano line on "Domestic" continues the friendly and generally upbeat pace of the album. The disc ends with "Brittle," a distorted and carefree short song, like most of Huon's songs. The disc was released on Florida's Animal World Recordings in 1999.