★★☆☆☆
From ‘Checkout Cutie’ to ‘Drunk On Election Night’, a great Dan Kelly song has always involved a mix of the sweet, the sour, the smart and the sardonic. It’s all about striking the right balance, ensuring one doesn’t get the better of the other.
This is where things begin to get out of hand on Leisure Panic, Kelly’s fourth LP overall bearing his name. He’s not released new material since Dan Kelly’s Dream in 2010, but the time away has sadly not been fruitful. Leisure Panic is not clever in the subtle, self-deprecating manner that once helped to define the Kelly narrative, but instead attacks puns, gags and punchlines with a see-what-I-did-there swiftness that irritates more than amuses.
‘National Park And Wildlife’ is cloying and overwrought, particularly its pretentious spoken-word outro. ‘Melbourne Vs Sydney’ has both the premise and the promise of a Dan Kelly classic and still falls disappointingly short. Things aren’t helped by the fact the opener (‘On The Run’) is a whopping nine minutes long and barely even justifies a third of its length.
Anyone with even passing interest in unique singer-songwriters would be immediately drawn to Kelly’s oeuvre. Leisure Panic, alas, makes it difficult to stick around.
