White Moth | SALT X Records

You’re going to have a hard time pinning down a unifying sound for the wildly-diverse set of tunes on Xavier Rudd’s new disc White Moth. The 27-year-old Australian singer-songwriter is a one-man-band, employing the use of lap guitars, didgeridoos, stomp boxes and slide banjos and he has one of those free-spirited voices that takes small liberties with pitch, inevitably erring on the side of sensitivity and character a la Damien Rice. At times, Rudd churns out solid, reassuring, utopian folk rock, lyrically trafficking in the tried and true good-natured themes of true love, togetherness and beautiful days. The lilting laidback reggae-inspired rhythms of “Twist” with its analgesic refrain “everybody’s feeling okay” and “Come Let Go” with its optimistic missive of brotherhood and background noises reminiscent of psychedelic safari animals, lull the listener into a secure sense of idealism. But Rudd has a dark side too, slipping seamlessly into the repetitive, driving rock riffs of “Footprint,” a song about rising oceans and deceptive political leaders that dissolves into an intense tribal-tinged jam. The best track on the record might just be the anthem “Land Rights,” for which Rudd, sounding like a weathered country-rock crooner, protests Australia’s displacement of its indigenous people and is joined on the chorus by members of the Aboriginal music group Yothu Yindi. Rudd will play at The Rio on June 27.

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