It's New To Me: The Venus Trail by the 3Ds (1993)

Photo of Helen Herendon from the Bain News Service

I'm a bit of a fan of indie music from Australia and New Zealand, but I think I may have already written a disproportionate number of posts about Aussie and kiwi pop on this blog. Not something I planned - it's just worked out that way. And, weirdly I'm getting more and more into kiwi pop lately. I blame the Merge Records SCORE! project - the mix CDs I've gotten from them have all had great kiwi-pop songs on them I haven't heard before, mostly because I never really got into the Flying Nun stuff that Merge was selling in the US in the '90s. The SCORE! mix by Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley was particularly kiwi-heavy, and that's ultimately what led me to track down used copies of CDs by the 3D's, the Mad Scene, and the Renderers. Another contributing factor was the opening track on the SCORE! covers CD, a version of the 3Ds' "Beautiful Things" by Quasi that was SO good that I had to hear the original.

So now I own The Venus Trail by the 3Ds (thanks Georgia!), a 1993 album recorded at the Grand Masonic Lodge in Dunedin, NZ. The 3Ds are actually made up of four D's - David M, David S, Denise, and Dominic. By '93, the 3Ds had established themselves with two EPs and a debut album of thrashy but melodic post-punk. I've never had much interest in the punkier side of kiwi pop, but the songs I heard from The Venus Trail were pure pop candy, so I figured they must have taken a sharp turn on their second album. That's not quite the case, though - it's one of those albums where the band decides to split the songs evenly between their old style and a new style, without much middle ground between the two. The Venus Trail opens with two tracks of hard-edged post-punk, "Hey Seuss" and "Philadelphia Rising", featuring big angular guitar riffs and some sloppy yelling from frontman David Mitchell. It's kind of like an NZ version of early Dinosaur Jr, with some Pixies mixed in.

After those first two songs, though, The Venus Trail takes a turn for the poppier, with the album's four best and most melodic songs, including the excellent "Beautiful Things" and "The Golden Grove". I don't think it's any coincidence that Denise Roughan contributes a lot of the vocals in this section of the album - she was probably the most interested in a softer pop sound, and her contributions really elevate this middle section of the album. The rest of the album splits the difference between the harder sound and softer ballads, with the noisefest of "Ice" being the only real let-down. The album's title track is probably the best representation of the overall sound of the album, but the album's best track by far is "Beautiful Things", with Roughan's soft vocal melody holding the band's rocking-out impulses at bay temporarily, and putting a delicate mandolin bridge where the guitar solo would be expected.

The Venus Trail is known as the 3Ds best record, and it's not hard to see why. Depending on your leanings, you may be drawn to the harder tracks or the softer ones, but the songs are all high-quality and make for an engaging, if uneven, listening experience.

"Beautiful Things" by the 3Ds