Isidore: Life Somewhere Else

When Steve Kilbey of the Church joined forces with Jeffrey Cain of Remy Zero to form Isidore in 2004, the collaboration proved as fruitful and inspiring as it was unexpected. The eponymous album was an almost-perfect set of auditory paintings, ones that swirled together Kilbey’s baritone poetry with Cain’s studio wizardry in unforgettable pastels. After eight long years, along comes Life Somewhere Else to prove that the magic of Isidore was no accident.

Steve Kilbey’s voice betrays his age (in some ways, it still sounds like the 1988 version of him) and very few musicians can string three notes together so effectively on the guitar like Jeffrey Cain (well, maybe Peter Koppes or Marty Willson-Piper). The more time one spends with this album, the deeper it goes — the tighter the net looks to you. It’s a shame only Church and Remy Zero fans will be inclined to check this out because it is a masterpiece lying beyond the power of the descriptive word.