ALBUM OF THE WEEK -In the blood and sweat drenched atmosphere of the average Six Ft Hick gig, it’s hard to imagine Ben Corbett indulging his sensitive side. Prowling across the stage like a starved wild animal, blood dripping from his self-inflicted wounds, Corbett – in concert with his ragged preacher brother Geoff – is a man lost to the ethereal mania of rock ’n’ roll. Yet, paradoxically, it’s Corbett’s Six Ft Hick persona that provides the foundation for Gentle Ben And His Sensitive Side. The previous Gentle Ben And His Sensitive Side album took much of its inspiration from Corbett’s observations on the human detritus that surrounded the morning after one of his stints working in Ric’s Bar in Brisbane; with Magnetic Island, the impression is of a man taking an even darker lens to the world around him, any maybe even closer to home.…
ALBUM OF THE WEEK - With its sparse, unfussy instrumentation and Ben’s charisma shining through, Magnetic Island is a great place to be. Gentle Ben And His Sensitive Side have long attracted audiences nationwide with their dark cabaret rock, featuring frontman Ben Corbett the open-shirted writher who intones, howls and croons over the top …
A MENAGERIE of wrong-doings and self-flagellating's, Magnetic Island makes its bed with sheets of falsetto and reverb, and wallows in it. While Ben Corbett channels Iggy in his ‘day job’ with SixFtHick, here he’s Serge Gainsbourg with extra stains and a side-serving of ham. Pulling on the hats of psychoanalyst (‘Blur the Lines’) and relationship counsellor (‘That Guy is a Liar’), Ben’s most poignant when drawing on his actual day job role of drug counsellor in ‘Nothing That I’m Needing’: "My boyfriend’s 29 / Got crystal meth / And a Nissan Skyline with illegal mods".”
J Mag
‘Suicide Machine’ is wonderfully warped with its deceivingly chirpy arrangement, contrasted by dramatic lyrics. In a similar vein lays ‘Rally Around’ – a slice of nice indie-pop, albeit stripped to sparse instrumental accompaniment. Instead, Corbett’s voice lingers firmly in the foreground, inviting us to sing along and clapping hands.
Magnetic Island is a thoroughly enjoyable album by an exciting band, it retains a sense of fun and adventure often missing from modern pop music while delivering a set of classic songs with a certain amount of swagger.