Eskimo Joe’s “A Song Is A City” Gets The Anniversary Treatment

To celebrate 21 years since the formation of Eskimo Joe, the past two years has seen the multi-platinum number one charting band from Western Australia reissuing their back catalogue in new formats. 2020 bring the run of reissues to a close with one final album re-release.

After Reissuing Girl, Ghosts Of The Past and Inshalla in 2018 with coloured vinyl and special edition CDs, Eskimo Joe gave their colossal 2006 album Black Fingernails Red Wine the same treatment in 2019 including a special Fremantle show which saw the band play the album in its entirety. Now fans can rejoice with the news that double platinum album Song Is A City will be getting the same anniversary edition love with a rerelease version on May 29, featuring silver vinyl and a special edition 22-track Deluxe Edition CD along with digital versions.

The album debuted at #2 on the ARIA charts in May 2004 and spent 27 weeks in the ARIA top 50 albums chart, catapulting the band and album to go over two times Platinum. The album received rave reviews from media and fans alike, winning both Engineer and Producer of the year alongside seven nominations at the ARIA awards. A Song Is A City reissue is available for pre-order now HERE.

In the chequered history of rock’n’roll, there haven’t been too many bands who have undertaken a radical change in musical direction whilst recording their debut album. While Girl found the band jumping the crossroads from crunchy punk to sailing, atmospheric pop’n’roll, A Song Is A City saw them settling into their impressive musicality, with vocalist/bass player Kav Temperley consolidating his strengths as a songwriter as he reminisces on the second album,

“At [the] time we were in label limbo and had the realisation that we’d have to take a risk and use whatever money we had earned so far to record our second album. Enter our fantastic Jam room on Baker Street behind a pub in Fremantle, also where we lived. Every Wednesday we would wander down to the Newport Hotel in Fremantle for student night (none of us were actually students), drink $2 beers and then stumble back to Baker St to start jamming. At the time we were obsessed with bands like Wilco, PJ Harvey 4 track demo’s and Neil Young. You can hear a lot of those flavours in songs like ‘From the Sea’, ‘Life is Better with You’ and ‘Older than You’. We wrote so many songs……around two albums worth during this period and this meant we could cherry pick the best moments to put on ASIAC.”

A Song Is A City was recorded in Sydney with Paul McKercher and Nick Launay then finished off at Debaser Studios in Perth. Stuart MacLeod thinks back to the album and where he was back in 2004, “It was an exciting time for the band; we were touring heavily, enjoying songwriting and having a great time in the studio. We learned a lot about engineering and production working alongside an industry legend in Paul McKercher. This record gave us our first ARIA for Producing; something I’m incredibly proud of to this day. The songs on this record have a beautiful naivety to them, but also represent a step up for the band. I still enjoy listening to this album, which is a rare thing for most musicians I know!”

Singles From The Sea, Smoke, Older Than You and Life Is Better With You helped bring the band to the forefront of rock back in 2004 through their use of stories and emotive lyrics as Kav ruminates, “All these stories are real for me, but over a decade later I now know that these stories aren’t just about us any more, they are for everyone who has listened to this record, taken it into their lives, and made it their own personal soundtrack. That makes us all in Eskimo Joe feel very proud, grateful and thankful for how this whole period of time ended up.”

ESKIMO JOE – A SONG IS A CITY ANNIVERSARY EDITION TRACK LISTING:

CD and Digital versions – Bonus tracks:

1. Come Down
2. From The Sea
3. Life is Better With You
4. Older Than You
5. A Song Is A City
6. Don’t Let It Fly
7. I’m So Tired
8. Seven Veils
9. Smoke
10. Carousel
11. This Room
12. Car Crash
13. See Saw
14. This Room – Acoustic Version
15. Commitment Bells
16. Life Is Better With You (RTR)
17. Come Down (RTR)
18. Smoke (Live At The Chapel)
19. This Room (Live At The Chapel)
20. I’m So Tired (Live At The Chapel)
21. From The Sea (Live At The Enmore)
22. Older Than You (2020 Mix)

Tracks 16 through to 22 are previously unreleased

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