Album Review: Henry Wagons - Expecting Company?

Henry Wagons – frontman for Melbourne's esteemed dark country exponents Wagons – has taken a detour and released his first solo effort, Expecting Company?, an ambitious collection of duets with other (predominantly female) vocalists that works primarily because the inherent melodrama of such country vignettes suits Wagons' deep, expressive voice perfectly.

Opener Unwelcome Company is a dark rocker featuring The Kills' Alison Mosshart – based on a disturbing event that she'd recounted to Wagons – while the more bombastic I'm In Love With Mary Magdalene finds him using Sophia Brous as a foil for some slightly deranged religious imagery. The more traditional country feel of Give Things A Chance To Mend commandeers Canada's Jenn Grant to portray a romance on the rocks. The legendary Robert Forster acts as a wise-but-weird spirit guide for Wagons on the co-write I Still Can't Find Her, while The Grates' Patience Hodgson lands the album's darkest moment A Hangman's Work Is Never Done. The collaborations conclude with Gossling doing her best Joanna Newsom impression on the doomed relationship mantra Please Give Me A Kiss. The album finishes with Henry in solo mode (revisiting Marylou from Wagons' 2011 album Rumble, Shake And Tumble) which acts as a coda with the man contemplating his sudden solitude.

The strong songwriting and deft production does a great job of making this disparate group of songs sound authentic, rather than some sort of modern pastiche of the country duet genre. This collection could have been a complete debacle if handled in the wrong manner, but all involved have invested enough of themselves to ultimately make it a solid collection of songs reflecting the innate drama of the male/female dichotomy.