Praise for Arches Over The Sun (album, 2011)
Khancoban is a mountain town somewhere in New South Wales but it's also a band from Melbourne and I'm here to tell you that this second album they have made is outstanding. Styles are quiet but not too quiet. Wilco maybe, Belle and Sebastian. Real tunesmiths, delicate and pained and observant as can be; songs about the sun rising and the detail contained with the human heart and other such big and small truths. Songwriter Andre Hooke's voice is a thing of beauty. The music made here is so, so easy to fall for and fall into.
- Chris Johnson, The Age Melbourne Magazine (album of the month)
khancoban continue of their trajectory of becoming one of this country's most interesting bands, and this record is an important - not to mention pleasureable - part of the journey.
- Tony McMahon, Inpress
Irrespective of the musical influence and nuance that sweeps through any khancoban record, it’s clear the Melbourne five-piece modestly craft their own particular brand of Australiana. Alt-folk, country and now pop, are the main – if not complete – sources the band extracts its pattern from; while vocalist, writer and guitarist Andre Hooke retains a propensity for mining a melody in keeping with his surname (minus the “e”, of course). Arches Over The Sun arrives some three years on from the band’s debut Limbs May Fall. It finds khancoban almost exclusively departing from its loose-fitting, banjo-riddled and intensely lethargic past in favour of more rapid-fire narrative and slightly changeable musicality.
A fuller, bristling record is what emits from khancoban this time around with the majority of the tracks bleeding out a different sort of hum. And interestingly, one that is banjo-less. Instead, it’s the elevated production noodling, crisp guitars, chunkier drums and a gleam in the piano, wurlitzer and synths that for the most part defines their developed new direction. ‘Until It Takes You Over’ is perhaps the clearest prototype of this updated, urbanised sound. Where title track ‘Arches Over The Sun’ extracts a similar sonic thread in its brief interlude, ‘This Isn’t Madness’ uncovers Hooke in Brian Molko-esque choral mode and will no doubt be devoured by triple j.
‘Things I Can’t See’ is the distinct pop moment of the album with the band tripping through a little flowery Belle and Sebastian, Suede and strangely, ’80s sitcom jingle. And speaking of the ’80s, one gets the sense that khancoban harness the irregular and eminent purr of The Triffids and The Go-Betweens by way of their own song construction – and what better double act to take heed to. Comparisons are, of course, futile but there’s ample detail embedded in the khancoban sonic mix to suggest a link.
Arches Over The Sun also demonstrates an ability to oscillate between mood and touch while keeping an open mind. The record is interspersed with fleeting, wraithlike moments (‘No One Knows I’m Here’, ‘Everything Went Differently And Everything Was Good’, ‘On Becoming’), balanced by a spiralling pulse throughout. This is one of those “good bones” records by a band that allows itself to be consumed more by curiosity than complexity.
- Nick Argyriou, Mess + Noise
So why are Khancoban not being lauded and anticipated with the fervour and excitement of contemporaries Boy & Bear? Surely it can't be simply because the latter are on a major label and have been chosen by the King as one of his pet bands, can it?
- Andrew Weaver, DB Magazine
Praise for Until It Takes You Over (single, 2011)
‘Limbs May Fall’ was a well crafted record, and I’m sure many have been hanging out for the follow up. Earlier material along the lines of early Augie was more subtle in aesthetic, but the band haven’t completely discarded their roots. It’s Khancoban in the way that it doesn’t need to overcompensate to prove it’s point. And it still gets it across. In two lines.
Sure there are big drums and meandering atmospherics that do tab out a few pages of ‘Neon Bible’, but Khancoban have managed to verge on ‘epic’ without coming out too overtly pomp. There’s plenty of room for repetitiveness, but Hooke’s delivery and a build up of nice progressions pull this tune through three min. For what it lacks in lyrical diversity, it makes up for as a good opening track. New album ‘Arches Over the Sun’ only drops in July. Until then, this one will be a good excuse to wake up early and mull over my cereal to.
Who The Bloody Hell Are They blog.
Praise for This Block (single, 2010):
"It’s a very subtle tune resting on a piano bounce, with the melange of instruments building gradually over the mostly two chord material. The vocals are vulnerable, but not too weepy, and the layers and diversity of instrumentation keep it very interesting without becoming unnecessarily wanky. It’s backed with I Wish I Was On A Plane Somewhere which is much less produced, but no less charming with nothing more than a single elegant guitar line and scratchy, yearning vocals, leaving heaps of blank space and some room for your imagination."
Time Off, Brisbane
Praise for Limbs May Fall (album, 2008):
"Australia's sublime alternative to country".
Rhythms Magazine (in writer Brett Leigh Dicks' top ten records for the year)
"A more challenging and diverse composition than their earlier work... khancoban are more focused on inspiring an emotion than simply creating one, and the pervading sentiment is as eerie as it is serene."
Beat Magazine
"Deep, resonant and sincere" 79/100
Wireless Bolinger
"An extraordinary debut album... the songs on this record creep up on you slowly, like memories, and take their place in the part of your heart reserved for truly impressive art"
Inpress
"Running parallel with this little punk renaissance and, depending on your world view, either despite or because of it, young local bands also made a great impression: if you haven’t heard The Holy Sea, khancoban or Clinkerfield, what the hell’s wrong with you?"
Tony McMahon, of Inpress, on listing Limbs May Fall in his top ten records of 2008 (3rd).
Praise for khancoban (mini album, 2006):
“Striking for its simplicity and restraint”
Mess + Noise.
“The quiet grace is compelling. A little record you will take to heart”
Drum Media.
“khancoban’s debut mini-album is full of amazing ideas and unrestrained promise”
DB Magazine.
“Speaks volumes against the fast pace of … well, everything else out there”
Time Off
"The territory is spacious interior music, big on emotion but small on drama. There's something of the early Augie March, except with more country shadings in the aching ballads, as well as something of the grey skies of Smog with a touch less grime".
Sydney Morning Herald.