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Steve Smyth is the first person to be released on Shock Records' new imprint Permanent Records. Shock announced Permanent Records towards the end of last year, announcing that they'd set it up with "with the sole purpose to foster and develop local independent talent". They've set the bar high.

When writing about Smyth's debut album "Release" it's tempting to focus just on his voice ( holy shit... what an incredible voice!!!), swooping from a delicate falsetto into a snarling growl that Tom Waits would be proud of his vocal and emotional range is breathtaking.

Steve Smyth - Barbiturate Cowboy And His Dark Horses

While we hadn''t heard that much about Steve at AIR until recently, living in London he played in a roving band called Operation Juliet with the likes of Sean Lennon, Spankrock and Mark Ronson, he also toured with Angus and Juliia, Ben Haper and Avi Buffolo.

Steve's song-craft is mature, wistful and romantic, sometimes embellished with delicate acoustic guitars, banjos and miscellaneous strings and sometimes a vehicle for his powerful voice and a rockin band, it's all  irresistible. A unique Australian alt-country, folk album from an incredible talent.