The Australian country towns of Tamworth and Gympie have long been regarded as the capitals of Australian country music, our own pale imitations of Nashville in America, filled with wannabe cowboys with brand new Akubra hats, too tight jeans, and reactionary conservative political views. Having grown up in a provincial Australian city, I was for a long time content for these two cities to act as the country music capitals; all the better to get as many rednecks as possible out of Queanbeyan, right?

However, having heard Epicure's latest full length album, it might be possible to deem another Australian regional city, Ballarat, as the capital of Australian alt-country music. This is intended as a compliment. "Postcards from a Ghost" combines wonderfully the alt-country sound of American masters of the art like Wilco with contemporary Australian alt-rock like Youth Group and purveyors of quality, literate guitar-pop like Crowded House.

If it sounds like I'm giving this band a big billing, that's because they deserve it. Epicure's previous work has always hinted that they had an album like this inside them, just waiting to get out, but it's taken until now for them to properly get it out onto a record.

Songs like Snakes and Foxes in particular have a grandiose, epic sweep to them, songs like Love Me Not roll forward with a sense of menace and purpose, and tracks like Cobra Kisses mix the two together to provide music that's accessible, yet has enough depth to keep even the most discerning fan interested for many listens. In particular, the vocals of frontman Juan Alban deserve attention on this track, as he moved in between grass-chewin' free verse on the chorus, to a soaring almost-falsetto on the choruses. It's done exactly right, never sounding too much, but always full enough to fill the song out.

The buzz around the Australian music scene is that this album has been inspired by some very personal events in Alban's life, which sounds about right - it takes someone to know heartbreak well to sing about it as convincingly and sincerely as he does on this album. I suppose it's probably a cold comfort to him that he's created a little gem of an album, and put his hometown on the map as the new alt-Tamworth, but in this case, tragedy has begat true beauty.