Why That Doesn't Surprise Me

by The Lucksmiths

supported by

jjsings I find this album more melacholy than some of their others, but maybe its because of when I first listened to it. The lucksmiths songs are like sponges for emotions.

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Jewel case packaging with 6-page photo and lyric booklet.

Includes unlimited streaming of Why That Doesn't Surprise Me via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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$15 AUD
Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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TURQUOISE VINYL RECORD
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
20th anniversary repressing on sky blue / turquoise vinyl. Lyrics printed on inner sleeve.

US customers please note: this is a co-release with Matinée Recordings of California. Please support your local label. matineerecordings.com

Includes unlimited streaming of Why That Doesn't Surprise Me via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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TURQUOISE VINYL RECORD – EU/UK ORDERS
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
20th anniversary repressing on captivating turquoise vinyl. Lyrics printed on inner sleeve.

Aus, NZ and Asia customers: please select above ordering option.

US customers: please visit matineerecordings.com

Includes unlimited streaming of Why That Doesn't Surprise Me via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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BLACK VINYL RECORD
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
20th anniversary repressing on black vinyl. Lyrics printed on inner sleeve.

US customers please note: this is a co-release with Matinée Recordings of California. Please support your local label. matineerecordings.com

Includes unlimited streaming of Why That Doesn't Surprise Me via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Music To Hold Hands To 03:47	buy track
2.	Synchronised Sinking 03:56	buy track
3.	The Great Dividing Range 03:17	buy track
4.	Beach Boys Medley 01:16	buy track
5.	Broken Bones 03:36	buy track
6.	First Cousin 04:04	buy track
7.	Don't Bring Your Work To Bed 02:44	buy track
8.	Fear of Rollercoasters 03:33	buy track
9.	Harmonicas and Trams 04:45	buy track
10.	The Forgetting of Wisdom 02:01	buy track
11.	Self-Preservation 02:02	buy track
12.	How To Tie a Tie 03:24	buy track
13.	All the Recipes I've Ever Ruined 05:46	buy track
14.	The Year of Driving Languorously 04:00	buy track

about

Tali White – vocals, drums, electric piano, melodica, percussion
Marty Donald – acoustic and electric guitars, glockenspiel, vocals
Mark Monnone – bass guitar, electric and acoustic and 12-string
guitars, vocals

with...

Darren Hanlon – electric guitar, electric piano, organ, banjo,
harmonica
Kellie Sutherland – vocals
Richard Ogier-Herbert – piano
Kate Dullard – clarinet, bass clarinet
Craig Pilkington – trumpet, flügelhorn, mandolin
Jen Anderson – violin; Liz Duffy – violin
Jason Bunn – viola
Mal Pinkerton – cello

String arrangements by Craig Pilkington.

Produced, recorded and mixed by Craig Pilkington at Audrey Studios, Richmond, summer 2000-01.
Tracks 3 and 8 mixed by Craig Pilkington and David Badrick.
Mastered by David Briggs at the Production Workshop
Mastered for vinyl by Craig Pilkington
Dragons by Alex Jack
Photos by Glenn Morris

As 2021 stumbles sheepishly over the finish line, so too the twentieth anniversary of The Lucksmiths’ watershed album of 2001, Why That Doesn’t Surprise Me. Lost And Lonesome and Matinée Recordings are excited they didn’t completely overlook this momentous milestone and invite you to celebrate now with a repressing of the long out-of-print vinyl LP, officially released January 18, 2022 – on sumptuous turquoise vinyl to boot!

Hear all the classics you know and love, artisanally crafted for you way back when by messrs Donald, White and Monnone (that’s Marty, Tali and Mark to you, friend), spinning gloriously from your record player!

‘Synchronised Sinking’ – check; ‘Broken Bones’ – check; ‘The Year of Driving Languorously’ – check. Yep, this is a good one. You got 'Music to Hold Hands to’ and ‘Self Preservation’ and ‘The Great Dividing Range’ too. It’s all here on one gorgeous record, handsomely adorned in Alex Jack’s cheeky ‘dragon bum warmer’ cover art.

Why That Doesn’t Surprise Me (their fifth ‘studio’ album) represented a turning point for The Lucksmiths, as the Melbourne band took their humble three-piece set-up into a legit recording studio for the first time and set to work with producer Craig Pilkington on exploring uncharted dynamic and tonal possibilities through the use of extra instrumentation and lush orchestral augmentation.

Indeed, this was to be the first of three albums The Lucksmiths recorded at Pilkington’s Audrey Studios; 2003’s Naturaliste and 2005’s Warmer Corners round out the trifecta which is often regarded as a golden period in Lucksmiths lore.

Amongst the extra instrumentation we can hear Darren Hanlon deftly jangling some joyous lead guitar. A longtime touring companion of The Lucksmiths, with his band The Simpletons, Hanlon had just released his first solo EP Early Days when he was invited to lend a hand and effectively became “the fourth Lucksmith” – a role he eventually relinquished to focus purely on his own songwriting, with top-notch results.

Also in there, we can hear the sweet vocals of a young pre-Architecture in Helsinki Kellie Sutherland who, as well as lending backing vocals to several songs, sings a show-stopping duet with Tali on the captivating ‘How to Tie a Tie’.

Originally released in 2001 by several iconic indie labels of the day – Candle Records (Aus), Drive-In Records (US), Fortuna Pop! (UK) and Clover (Japan) – the album has been out of print on vinyl for decades. To celebrate the platinum anniversary, the new release is available on classic black and limited edition turquoise wax.

Drop the needle on this charmer – it’s time to fall in love all over again!

"I apologize to all Lucksmiths fans for making strides to out their greatness. The band is simply worthy of the myriad cappuccino cups of mouth foam that their rabid following has bestowed. I'll risk all-out exploitation, by deeming them worthy of even a larger fanbase, even though their sixth (proper) album, Why That Doesn't Surprise Me, isn't much of a departure for them, or music in general. Bands like Felt, Field Mice, and, most recently, Belle and Sebastian have forged, realized, and revisited the sunny terrain of twee guitar-pop that the Lucksmiths play on. The band is utterly content in presenting simple, catchy love songs that make no waves to innovate. And that's fine, because they're damn good at it."

8/10 Pitchfork Media

credits

released March 1, 2001

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about

The Lucksmiths Melbourne, Australia

1993-2009

Marty Donald: guitar
Mark Monnone: bass
Louis Richter: guitar
Tali White: vocals, drums

lostandlonesome.com.au

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