Internationalist

If Powderfinger’s second album, 1996’s <i>Double Allergic</i>, opened the door to mainstream success, 1998 follow-up <i>Internationalist</i> blew that door off its hinges. Working for the first time with American producer Nick DiDia (who’d previously engineered albums by Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine), the Brisbane quintet cast aside any musical fat in favour of lean, classic, guitar-driven songwriting. They also created some of their most inventive music to that point, particularly in mournful first single “The Day You Come”, a song reportedly inspired by the rise of right-wing politics in Australia. “Trading Places” and “Passenger” are gentle contrasts to the bristling rock’n’roll of “Don’t Wanna Be Left Out” and “Good Day Ray”, songs that speak of a band still very much in love with turning their amps to 11, even while broadening their songwriting horizons. The tense, discordant riffing of “Celebrity Head” lends the album some barely restrained bite, vocalist Bernard Fanning taking a razor-sharp swipe at self-important music scribes: “Don’t you know who I am/I work the street paper scam/I can’t believe you don’t read me”.