Midnight Oil Strikes Back With Powerful Mini LP ‘The Makarrata Project’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

In 2017, Midnight Oil returned from its lengthy hiatus with a vengeance, traversing the globe on The Great Circle Tour, rousing audiences, and raising consciousness along the way. In keeping with that extended effort, and in follow-up to the live content released in the wake of those efforts, Armistice Day, this powerhouse outfit from Down Under has now issued, The Makarrata Project, a seven-track mini-LP in collaboration with a number of kindred spirits from their native country.  

Announcing the first new studio recordings since 2002’s Capricornia, the Oils revealed they had teamed up with producer/recordist/mixing engineer Warne Livesey to record 20 songs, a handful of which “shared a strong focus on the issue of indigenous reconciliation.’ Accordingly, Midnight Oil’s creative and cultural valor fosters the incorporation of other artists within their own finely-honed instrumental and vocal chemistry.  For instance, on “First Nation,” the ominous backbeat of Rob Hirst’s drums, clipped rhythm guitars by Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey plus Peter Garrett’s carefully enunciated singing could really be no one but the Oils.

It’s then a seamless transition through harmonies featuring Jessica Mauboy and Tasman Keith to a quasi-rap/hip-hop segment that clarifies the subject at hand, that is, reconciliation with and reparations to, the indigenous people(s) of Australia (‘makarrata’ is synonym for treaty). In a metaphorical exercise of unity, there’s no sense of clumsy accommodations by the ensemble, even when the most sizable corps– Dan Sultan, Joel Davison, Kaleena Briggs & Bunna Lawrie–appears on “Gadigal Land.” During an anthem as celebratory as it is serious,  the horns by Andy Bickers, Angus Gomm, and Anthony Kable drive almost as hard as Bones Hillman’s bass.

The complementary nature of the arrangement speaks volumes about of The Oils’ mutually inspired relationship with Livesy (he’s worked with the group prior to and during its widespread successes Blue Sky Mining and Diesel & Dust). But then the sequencing of the cuts here also reflects that longstanding, combined expertise: “Change the Date” is a decided change of pace from its high-spirited predecessor, the contemplative acoustic piano meshing with acoustic guitars just as the voices of  Gurrumul Yunupingu & Dan Sultan blend with Garrett’s. This track turns into the aural equivalent of diversity and inclusion.

“Terror Australia” and “Desert Man, Desert Woman” are somewhat less successful in terms of marshaling and balancing artistic resources. Both Alice Skye and Frank Yamma are affecting in their own way– the former is most winsome, while on the latter positively haunts—but the presence of Midnight Oil is negligible at best: in providing a platform for others here, the fivesome has receded too far into the background. But, in addition to highlighting a scrupulous sound mix, “Wind In My Head” signals the homestretch of this roughly half-hour playing time at the same time it provides a dramatic setup to the longest cut here,  a fusion of the straightforward spoken-word manifesto “Uluru Statement From The Heart” that leads directly into “Come On Down.”

This somewhat conventional piece of pop/rock stands as a literal beckoning for involvement and activism. As with so many similar entries from the Midnight Oil discography, the cut would hardly work so well if the group itself were not role modes for action. But the track also functions well as final punctuation to yet another pragmatic statement of purpose on the part of this stalwart unit. While The Makarrata Project is, overall, more of an exercise in maintaining rather than innovating, it is nevertheless a work replete with the customary philosophical and musical intelligence the Oils have displayed throughout their history. As a result, in addition to delivering its intended message(s), the most memorable moments whet the appetite for the next full-length album.