Watching a band like Brisbane’s Mexico City progress beyond their earliest recorded work, is a great thing to behold. Seeing them hone their garage-flecked Crazy Horse drone into a diverse and multi layered body of work, watching their songwriting progress to new levels and hearing the richness of the resulting recordings is a joy that makes being a shill in this thing called the music industry completely worthwhile. The album you hold in your hands is the result of a year of hard work for the four Mexico City boys, after a difficult period trying to find a drummer to replace the near-impossible to replace Cec Conden (now a member of the fantastic Mess Hall) and wildly succeeding with a young chap by the name of Ben Carstens-who not only managed to fill some big shoes, but probably even fits into ‘em a little better. With Ben joining the core of songwriting partners Simon Radich and Adam Toole and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Mick Elliot- the band devoted the next six months to crafting an album that would take the Mexico City sound to the next level. It was at this point that Reverberation put the band in touch with Michael Carpenter, a producer who’s resume includes Youth Group, 78 Saab & The City Lights and who’s melodic nous and love of guitar based pop would prove to be an interesting and complimentary counterpoint to the heavy manners of Mexico City’s country noir. The result is “Black Comedy” a rich and textured album that takes in everything from ’66 Dylan through their beloved Crazy Horse and even occasionally landing back in the garage where it all started. At times mournful, the album’s dark mood is offset by the rich melodic texture these songs are imbued with, every once in a while catching flecks of joy lurking in the shadow. Joining the band in the studio were talented keys wizard Chris “Cosi” Costello, Halfway’s pedal steel king Noel Fitzpatrick and Michael Carpenter jumps out of the producers shoes to lay down some keys too. The result is an expansive and impressive debut album that lives up to the promise shown over the space of two well received and critically acclaimed Eps.