Gala Mill

Gala Mill was recorded in a mill on an isolated farm on Tasmania’s east coast. Barking dogs and birdsong are heard between tracks, and the island’s history is heavily referenced throughout the songs. The album was recorded by Aaron Cupples, a "good friend" of Liddiard. He recalled that the band wanted "an honest and uninvolved" sound, similar to Neil Young's ''Tonight's the Night'': "I wanted [...] not to 'hide' the process of recording from the listener [...] all the drop-ins and drop-outs are all just laid out bare." He recalled a crossfade 2 minutes into the track "I'm Here Now" for the drop-in of a new guitar part, which you'd normally make a fraction of a second to hide it, but he left it quite long to make it sound "like a volume swell that you can do on a guitar with the volume knob". The band also spent a lot of time "placing the drums in the right spot so they sounded big", which ended up being in the middle of the room and lent the recordings "plenty of low end". The sessions, mixed down to tape, had a similarly "straightforward" mixing process, with no compression being used and plug-in reverb being used sparingly. The mixing, done a year after the sessions were recorded, was completed in "two days flat". == Content ==

, of the face of Alexander Pearce after his execution. "Jezebel", "the slow, roiling eight-minute opener [...] coiled to bust loose at any moment", deals with topics such as "the death of journalist Daniel Pearl in the Middle East, nuclear testing in the Australian homeland, and a massacre that is infamous in Aussie history". and as "one part love song to nine parts apocalyptic nightmare" featuring allegorical lyrics. According to Greil Marcus, the "delirious" song "seems to suck all the chaos and horror of the present moment into a single human being, who struggles to contain that world inside himself". He described the choruses as "unnerving" and found the band's performance on the song overall as a "shocker". The track "Dog-Eared", featuring slide guitar The song "Words from the Executioner to Alexander Pearce", "the first of two epics that delve into the slaughterhouse that was Australia's early history" He was executed in July 1824 after a conviction of cannibalism during his escape attempts. "I Looked Down the Line and I Wondered" takes its title from a song by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. ==Release==

The album was released in Australia on CD through Shock Records. ATP Recordings released the album on double LP and digipak in the UK and the US (the former was solely released in the UK). It was issued in the UK on 8 October 2006. A music video (the band's first) was made for the track "Jezebel" and released on YouTube. It was described by The Aquarian Weekly as "apocalyptic [...] rustling up mostly old black and white film marked by torture, punishment, and wartime oppression." == Reception ==

National Gala Mill received positive reviews from the Australian press. Jeff Glorfeld of The Age wrote that "[The band] made another [album], even better, dense, tense [...] and yet - frenzied?" and praised Liddiard's lyrics. Bernard Zuel of Sydney Morning Herald wrote that Liddiard's "grasp of a dark vision is utterly compelling, fierce and poetic, unseen in these parts since the days when Nick Cave merged Flannery O'Connor and the Old Testament while the early Bad Seeds let loose the hounds of hell", though the "understated grandeur" of their music set them apart from other similarly influenced bands. International The album received a Metacritic score of 87, indicating "universal acclaim" based on 6 reviews. Seth K of Tiny Mix Tapes wrote that "humility rules [on this album], and what makes Gala Mill so impressive is how The Drones wear their emotions on their sleeves and how naturally everything spills out", calling Liddiard "passionately belligerent" and comparing him to "storyteller(s)" of the likes of Nick Cave and Bob Dylan. He described the band as "radicals, patriots, and lovers, all rolled into one." Exclaim!'s Dimitri Nasrallah called it "[a] worthy 2006 follow-up to a great 2005 album, but those new to the band are advised to start off at Wait Long." Awards The album was nominated for the 2006 Australian Music Prize - the second year in a row that the band had been nominated, with Wait Long By The River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By winning the previous year - but lost out to Augie March's Moo, You Bloody Choir. They were also nominated for Most Outstanding New Independent Artist at the inaugural AIR (Australian Independent Record Labels Association) Chart Awards. ==Legacy==

Accolades In October 2010 Gala Mill was listed at #21 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums. In a poll organized by Triple J in 2011 where "some of the country's top musicians and industry experts [were asked of] their favourite Australian albums of all time", Gala Mill was voted #19 out of 100 entries. In 2014, the track "Sixteen Straws" was included by Flavorwire on their list of "The 50 Best Album Closing Tracks in History". In 2021, Rolling Stone Australia included Gala Mill at #155 on their list of "The 200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time" (one of two Drones albums on the list), with James DiFabrizio writing that it saw the band "[expand] their vision to the feverish, eloquent rock’n’roll dirges that would go on to define their legacy in Australian music." ==Track listing==

Gala Mill UK release All tracks written by The Drones unless mentioned otherwise: ==Personnel==

Adapted from liner notes: ;The Drones • Gareth Liddiard – lead vocals, guitar, melodeon, recording, string arrangements, recording engineer, mixing • Rui Pereira – guitar, vocals • Fiona Kitschin – bass, xylophone, vocals, lead vocals , percussion • Mike Noga – drums, harmonica, vocals ;Additional musicians • Dan Luscombe – slide guitars • Aaron Cupples – bass • Michelle Lewit – violins ;Production • Aaron Cupples – recording engineer, mixing, panoramic photo • John Ruberto – mastering • Dan Campbell – photography • Spencer P. Jones – cover image • The Downie Breitkreuz Group – art direction and design ==Charts==