Described on their website as “Half Noise, Half Folk Music”, Khancoban are from Melbourne. Their intriguing brand of folk is largely unparalleled in Australia at the moment; their sound is smart and thought through.
I had the pleasure of seeing Khancoban last Thursday. They are a 5 piece now, though in this album they are but 4. The vocalist André Hooke has a very beautiful voice. His singing perfectly complements the folk styling of the band, dealing with pop elements in a downplayed and intelligent manner.
Andrew Bonnici’s guitar playing is the second most notable aspect of Khancoban’s sound, which is rather unusual in a folk band. What made it stand out was on the second last song “Such A Big Sky” it is very atmospheric and beautifully suited to André’s lyrics, in the last couple of minutes is when his playing truly shines (Kind of like in Red House Painters’ ‘Make Like Paper’”.)
The best part about Khancoban is that they are great people, watching them play live was really something, as the circumstances were not exactly perfect - they took this in their stride and played excellently. The album is available at http://khancoban.net/ and http://www.myspace.com/khancoban
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