Everyday you turn on ABC local radio you hear the refrain "top of 14, cloudy with scattered showers", nothing changes.

It's winter in Melbourne, you need to wear layers, you need a scarf around your neck and a thick jacket, and you need to walk through the drizzling rain to the train/tram/bus stop on the way to work. All things considered it's a melancholy vibe. But you've got an ipod/iriver/walkman/discman and it's within your power to play music that can warm you like a nip of brandy or a hot drink from a thermos. You know what you should listen to?

Tinpan Orange.

These days, if you're going to play folk music with just a nylon stringed guitar you won't cut it.  
It doesn't matter how intricate the finger picking or how out of the ordinary the tuning is, the fact is you'd better come armed with a battery of stringed instruments, each with it's own sparkling timbre. Like Tinpan Orange do.
You can't help but be struck by the beautiful and subtle treatment of acoustic guitars, slightly overdriven electrics, slide guitars, mandolins, ukeleles, bases and a string section. They bounce off each other, they dart in and out, playing and growing in intensity and then subsiding. I wouldn't call myself a folk enthusiast but damn, I do love a good arrangement! Tinpan Oranges latest album, "The Bottom Of The Lake" is full of em.

Emily Lubitz's voice is rich but gentle, it's warm and inviting, when her brother Jesse takes the reigns on the microphone the familial similarities are evident.  It doesn't hurt that the artwork is hand drawn and pretty while the photos of the ernest band feature Emily's flaming red hair and deep green eyes. Dreamy! Combined with Harry Angus' production (Cat Empire and Jackson Jackson, yep it's an interesting choice but it works), the sounds are crystal clear and they'll take you to a place that'll make you see Melbourne's winter in a different light. You'll look at the soaked asphalt of the roads and smile inwardly.

Tinpan Orange have hit on something beautiful here, the more I listen the more I love it.

Tinpan Orange Website

Tinpan Orange Myspace

Vitamin Records