The new album Where Only Memory Can Find You by multiple ARIA-winning Australian singer-songwriter Mick Thomas and his current outfit Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission takes him right back to his roots with beloved Oz rock outfit Weddings Parties Anything, the album’s title taken from the chorus of that band’s classic 1987 single ‘Away Away’. Like that song the new album is a beautiful rumination on the nexus between memory and the passing of time, and how you can never go back - no matter how much some people seem hell-bent on revisiting their past. Musically the Roving Commission - who also feature two other WPA alumni as well as members of The Waifs and the backing bands of Aussie luminaries such as Archie Roach, Tex Perkins and David Bridie - ply a distinctive blend of melodic folk-rock that embraces restraint and sophistication in the studio, but definitely know how to bring the party vibes in the live realms with their rollicking stage show. Where Only Memory Can Find You contains co-writes with Oz rock figures such as country icon Sara Storer and members of Indigenous folk outfit Tiddas, including some of the most poignant songs ever penned by Thomas - who in 1993 won the Song Of The Year ARIA for his timeless Oz rock classic ‘Father’s Day’ - with tracks like ‘Back In The Day’, ‘Lilac Trees’, ‘Seven Wonders’ and ‘Calling Me Home’ already up there with the finest moments of his nearly four-decade long career. Few artists seem to genuinely improve with the passing of time but on Where Only Memory Can Find You Mick Thomas is going from strength-to-strength, consolidating his already entrenched reputation as an iconic Australian artist.
