Australia and I have a complicated relationship when it comes to Eurovision, as regular readers will know, and I can say that this effort by Electric Fields has muddied the waters somewhat. They’ve finally got their turn after SBS abandoned their National Final and just said to the guys “Show us what you got”. I was expecting more of 2000 and whatever, so imagine my disappointment when they decided to go in a totally different direction. One Milkali (One Blood) really is a curate’s egg of a thing.
It’s a decent and perfectly serviceable pop song that has taken its cue from Voyager last year in the backing and the rhythm, but that serviceability is also a negative, especially when you consider that the preview video has the two lead singers gurning at the camera with just the words on the background. It reminds me of a filler track from a band’s fourth album – there to make up the numbers, and I grant you that there is no performance element to judge here, and whilst I acknowledge that could lift everything, I don’t know what I think about it as a contest song.
On the second listen I couldn’t get into it at all, so the question has to be asked, if that’s the case, is there going to be enough on a first listen for people to actively pick the phone up and vote for it? On this evidence, I don’t think there is.
