20-21. Television Bites

DAVID SCHAAK Independent

Eddie Cockrell reviews the best of the small screen this week, including the new season of space drama For All Mankind

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Southern rock, a genre that peaked in the US four decades ago, is alive and well and living in Brisbane in the guise of David Schaak. Originally from Melbourne, the singer, songwriter and guitarist reinvigorates a rootsy brand of rock still trading currency via the likes of Gov’t Mule and the DriveBy Truckers with this debut album. Schaak sidesteps the form’s redneck trappings (Confederate flags, good ol’ boys and endless guitar solos) for sharply observed, literate songs that speak of loss, loneliness and “how nothing goes to plan, just quicksand” (the banjo-flavoured Runaway). With a voice that variously recalls the Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson, Steve Earle and Gregg Allman, Schaak also wields a guitar that can either lacerate in electric mode or soothe the savage breast acoustically, as on the album’s confessional title track.

Phil Stafford