Luke Steele and 2 of the guys from Gelbison have formed a side project band called Nations By The River. Specifically, it contains Edo and Nadav "Dove" Kahn from Gelbison as well as Luke from the Sleepy Jacksons. Ohad Rein from Old Man River joined while the debut album was being recorded.

The album, Holes In The Valley, is not as good as the Sleepy Jacksons Lovers nor is it as good as Gelbison's 1704. Not that these facts condemn this album to the trashpile of unworthy 2004 releases. It's worth a listen. It's just that this album does not equal up to the sum of its parts.... as is typical of supergroups of this kind.

The closest point of reference would be to all of the slower more countryfied stuff from the Lovers album. Think "Mourning Rain" or "Old Dirt Farmer". I spose you will find it under "Alt-Country" at the CD store.

The tracks I have included here are all very nice. "Heart Attack Romance" has Sarah Blasko doing about 30 seconds of vocals. How sweet of her to pop into the studio for a day to lay down some vocals. As if to remind us that this really is a supergroup (in case we had forgotten for a second or two). "Boy" is the track doing the rounds on triple J. I include "These Are the Times" because it's one of the fewer upbeat tracks on what is mostly a pretty melancholy album.

Nations By The River - Boy 192kbps, 4.97mb
Nations By The River - These Are the Times 192kbps, 4.46mb
Nations By The River - Heart Attack Romance 192kbps, 3.12mb