This countrified piece of Americana was concocted on a trip McRobbie (formerly of Thee Tsunami) and O’Connell (always of Elephant Micah) took to the former’s Australian homeland. Though not recorded until returning the the states, the duo’s self-titled album under guise Gibson and Toutant is clearly baked under the outback sun. Not even the shade cast from beneath Swan Rocks could protect these tracks from the sweltering, rising heat. O’Connell’s guitar bends under the stress, making for psychedelic punctuation to the robotic cowboy country the pair evoke. Part of this is very centered on traditional motifs of the Wild West, both in the films of late period American machismo and recent Australian fare that questions the motivation of Sergio Leone heroes and villains alike.
This album is so hot I had to wait for the weather to cool down to tackle it. Though its motivational sway is far more chill than the cues it as taken from the sweltering heat that basks its slow-mo melodies, the speed by which is passes is easier to appreciate when the weather has turned in both hemispheres. In America, Gibson and Toutant is a cozy blanket to wrap around oneself around a fire as they sip a hot toddy. In Australia, it’s a respite as the season begins to roil and summer quickly approaches. But no matter the location of season therein, the coolness of McRobbie and O’Connell’s first jaunt to this territory has found them channeling their inner Timbuk 3 or Stan Ridgway.
