Alex Michaelides burst on to the thriller scene with his well-received debut The Silent Patient. That book featured a psychotherapist doing his own investigating, competing narratives and a thread of Greek mythology. Given that worked for him once, Michaelides brings some of the same ingredients to bear in his follow up outing The Maidens. Mariana…
As far as I am concerned there is always room at the table for another post-punk band if their debut is as solid as London-based Qlowski. Their new full length album, Quale Futuro?, introduces you to the quartet of Mickey Tellarini (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Cecilia Corapi (keyboards, vocals), Danny Smartt (bass, clarinet) and Christian Billard…
With book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and choreography by Jerome Robbins, West Side Story is one of the most celebrated musicals of all time. Opera Australia and GWB Entertainment’s production of the classic is vibrant and textured, balancing the contrasts in its story of gangs and love. The plot, which…
Australian science fiction and thriller author Max Barry has done arcane conspiracies (Lexicon), satire (Jennifer Government) and space wars (Providence) so it is perhaps no surprise that he has moved on to multiple world theory in his latest book The 22 Murders of Madison May. With its delightfully onomatopoeic title, the book is based on…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 23 July 2021. The Old Fabled River represents a meeting of minds and cultures well-suited to Alasdair Roberts’ syncretic fervor. Responding to the invitation of Norwegian fiddler Hans Kjorstad, he found a group of musicians well-versed in folk, jazz…
The sexually-charged comedy Shiva Baby is an awkward delight. Dani (Rachel Sennott) is a 20-something sugar baby, part of a close-knit Jewish community. Her highly opinionated mother Debbie (Polly Draper) loves her dearly, but is controlling and smothering. Debbie invites Dani to attend the Shiva Minyan (memorial service) for a member of the community who…
Singer-songwriter Faye Webster got the biggest boost to her career when the first single from her new album, “Better Distractions,” found its way onto former President Barrack Obama’s 2020 end of year playlist, earning the song national and international attention. Smartly, the 23-year-old leads off her fourth album, I Know I’m Funny haha, with the…
Let’s face it, growing old isn’t nice, but this offering from M. Night Shyamalan is simply ridiculous. Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Prisca Capa (Vicky Krieps) have taken their two children, 11-year-old daughter Maddox and six-year-old Trent, on a luxurious tropical island holiday. The husband and wife are on the verge of separating, but have…
A pleasantly distracting comedy, Rosa’s Wedding centres around a hard-working woman who’s selfless to the point of exhaustion. She looks after everyone – family and friends all – other than herself. About to turn 45, Rosa (Candela Peña) works long hours as a seamstress in the wardrobe department of a film production company in Valencia….
Nicola West’s debut, Catch Us the Foxes set in a regional coastal town south of Sydney, is a strange, potentially potent brew of ideas. Never sure what it wants to be, it presents as a true crime memoir within a novel for reasons that only become obvious late in the piece. The memoir itself is…
