I don't have much patience for a fondly mis-remembered 1980s. Nor does The Paradise Motel, Australian Ghost Story creates a stark mood, the more country-tinged arrangements remind me of The Triffids, circa In The Pines... There is no way, listening to it now, to not see in the story of Azaria Chamberlain another set of stories about disappeared children: the stolen generations. These stories would not become prominent in the public mind until the mid-1990s, but they have since underscored - and how terribly - a young nation's fear of itself, of its land and its people.
- Anwyn Crawford, The Age
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In many ways, this album recalls The Drones’ Gala Mill. Clearly, this isn’t a musical comparison – The Drones and The Paradise Motel are pretty much chalk and cheese as far as their sound goes. But as with Gala Mill, this is an unmistakably Australian album, one that looks through the lens of the country’s history at its present. Interestingly, the two records were made in similar surrounds; The Drones decamped to a ruined mill in rural Tasmania (home of the Paradise Motel) to recordGala Mill, while Australian Ghost Story was made in a barn on the Yarra River near Warburton in Victoria. As with Gala Mill, a sense of place pervades this record – its stark arrangements and Sussex’s mournful contralto evoke emptiness and isolation. It’s a powerful and affecting album, and one with a lot to say about the country we live in. People would do well to listen.
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As much as the album is about a historical fact and a personal tragedy, it’s also about The Paradise Motel. They’re older now, more alert to the random tragedies that can befall us in an instant, and their consequences. While less immediate than Flight Paths, AGS ends up no less brilliant or powerful. It’ll be a close run for album of the year, no doubt.
- J P Hammond, Mess & Noise
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After almost a ten-year hiatus, The Paradise Motel are gently blowing back into the spotlight with ‘Australian Ghost Story’. Essentially a series of reflections on the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain in 1980, the Melbourne-based seven-piece go about telling their stories in the considered and meticulous style fans became accustomed to throughout the late 90s. The Paradise Motel don’t deal in flashy riffs or cheap fanfare; instead, you have to wait for a slow tide of hooks to come to the surface of these carefully compiled cuts, and it creates a sense of discovery that is part and parcel of the experience. On the best tracks, such as ‘Brown Snake’ and ‘My Sister in ‘94’, The Paradise Motel reward the listener’s patience with some truly sublime craftsmanship, but this is ultimately an album best consumed as an addictively mysterious whole.
- Album of the Week in Scene Magazine (QLD)
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“owing as much to modern myths of missing girls as to musical forebears like The Triffids and The Bad Seeds... a work of dark, atmospheric Australiana, addressing the local landscape with a literary reverie”
- **** Anthony Carew, The Big Issue
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“a reminder of the sheer strength of their pop sensibility and the luxurious sound they can create”
- **** Courier Mail
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"As delicate and as subtle as the bands beloved Nineties output... This kind of history-haunted, story-oriented songwriting has found a real foothold in recent years, but The Paradise Motel did it first and did it best."
-Doug Wallen, Rolling Stone
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“their music sounds as vital as ever... Songs start slow and restrained but build to a noisy, climactic peak. Floating across the racket is Merida Sussex’s crystal voice, layered and gorgeous”
- The Mercury
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"a crack at engaging with an enduring Australian story/legend/psychic rupture...the album has a fairytale quality to it."
- Tim Dunlop, Crikey
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"Drawing from the Motel’s well-stocked arsenal of haunting melodies and stunningly eerie arrangements, these songs are executed with the confidence and skill of a band who, after all these years, know what they do well – something impressive and utterly unique."
- Readings Magazine
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“Evocative... Like The Triffids, The Paradise Motel are capable of capturing the harsh beauty of the Australian landscape – imagine the Bad Seeds, but with an angelic voice more haunting than histrionic”
- Music Australia Guide (MAG)