PHIL JAMIESON - 10Charlie LP (colour vinyl)

Limited edition translucent green colour vinyl.

“They say write what you know…” 

So goes the opening line of Phil Jamieson’s second solo album. And the Grinspoon frontman promptly follows his own advice on expressive songs tackling and accepting love, loss, grief and growth. 

10Charlie, named after his preferred aisle seat on flights, sees the 49-year-old confronting the paradox of middle-age, where life largely settles into cruising altitude, but heavy turbulence is likely at any moment. 

The death of a friend informs ‘Reading Keats in Byron Bay’, which balances a slinky rock groove with a sticky ‘Switft-esque’ melody that came to Jamieson while stuck in traffic. (Although Taylor Swift has never had this much swagger). 

The dramatic ‘Blue As The Sunlight’ reflects on the empathy and mercy required for unconditional love, deploying smoky six-string and a swaying 6/8 rhythm that bursts into a towering chorus.

The meditative strum on the plaintive ‘The Soft Return’ is far closer to Boy & Bear than any alt-rock action, sailing past the six-minute mark with a sprawling, fuzzy guitar solo played by Jamieson himself.

‘Get It’ indulges in Springsteen-indebted heartland rock, opening an entirely new flight path for Jamieson, his anthemic calls answered by the twanging licks of You Am I shredder Davey Lane - a key presence across 10CHARLIE.