Backseat Downunder
Album Review: Jessica’s ‘The Space Between’ is an immersive masterpiece of haunting dream pop
Backseat Mafia had the pleasure of premiering the track ‘Silence’ from Sydney artist Jessica last week which lead inexorably to listening to the source album ‘The Space Between’. And what a completely immersive and enthralling journey this album is. ‘The Space Between’ as a whole is impossibly beautiful – quiet, reflecting vignettes filled with a …
News: New Zealand’s Merk announces new album and releases gorgeous, yearning single Laps Around the Sun
Merk’s new single ‘Laps Around the Sun’ is a gorgeous reflective piece, infused with a sense of yearning and constructed around a deceptively simple synth-based framework. Merk is the work of Auckland, New Zealand artist, multi-instrumentalist and producer Mark Perkins who began his career as a touring member of Tom Lark and Fazerdaze. In this …
Album Review: Flyying Colours’ new album ‘Fantasy Country’ is a smashing and cathartic dose of shoegaze sparkle
The anthemic and statuesque ‘Goodtimes’ kicks opens the doors of the new and blistering album ‘Fantasy Country’ by Melbourne band Flyying Colours. And what you get at the beginning is what you can expect through to the end of this extremely enjoyable and highly rewarding album. In ‘Goodtimes’ there is an amusing tension between the …
See: Heligoland release an arctic chill with gorgeous new video for ‘Hera’ off album ‘This Quiet Fire’
The track ‘Hera’ perfectly encapsulates the overall shimmering beauty of Heligoland‘s album ‘This Quiet Fire’ (reviewed by me recently), and the band has released an enchanting video that is the perfect cinematic vision for the track. The black and white landscapes loom ominously – the snow-laden, naked boughs and walls of frosted trees frame the …
Premiere: Local Authority, Brisbane’s shoegaze/dream pop trio, release evocative and psychedelic video for the blistering single ‘Forever, For Now’
Backseat Mafia is very pleased to premiere the video for the new single by Brisbane’s dream pop/shoegaze specialists, Local Authority. I have championed this band for a while on these pages – I reviewed their last album ‘Negative Space’ and described it as a truly a magnificent album that carves out a unique space for …
News: Peter Hook and the Light Downunder – 2022 Australian/New Zealand Tour is announced
Peter Hook & The Light return to Australia and New Zealand in 2022 to perform Joy Division’s landmark albums, ‘Unknown Pleasures’ and ‘Closer’, in full and sequential order. Plus as a special bonus they will perform an opening set of New Order material. Joy Division co-founder and bassist was part of the band for the …
Album Review: The Bats’ Robert Scott and Dallas Henley release low-fi home recorded delight ‘Level 4’
As the main songwriter for the wonderful The Bats, Robert Scott needs no introduction (read my recent interview with him). Scott has partnered with Dallas Henley, Scott’s co-owner of an Art Gallery – Pea Sea Art – in Port Chalmers Dunedin, to release a very low-fi and extremely intimate collection of absolutely gorgeous songs. Both …
Premiere: We Set Sail launches the thundering single ‘The Valium Phase’ ahead of album release
We are very pleased to premiere the opening track to Brisbane band We Set Sail‘s forthcoming third album ‘Ritual and Ceremony’. And it’s a blinder. ‘The Valium Phase’ is an explosive, passionate blast to the ears – stabbing guitars and pounding rhythms with vocals that bleed emotion and wrench the heart. This track has a …
Premiere: Jessica releases the ethereal and ghostly single ‘Silence’
We are very pleased to premiere the video for Sydney musician Jessica‘s new track ‘Silence’ on Backseat Mafia. Jessica’s voice is as majestic and ethereal as Kate Bush’s and ‘Silence’ is a brief but so very haunting and evocative song. Deep strings underpin the gorgeous floating vocals and create a hypnotic drone. There is a …
Track: Julia Why? unveils glowing, mesmerizing track ‘Waiting for Time’
‘Waiting For Time’, the new track from Australian artist Julia Why?, positively shimmers out of the speakers with a glowing and mesmerizing sheen. Julia Why? is essentially the songwriting talents of Julia Wylie and the track was written across London, Paris and Athens as COVID19 spread its germy fingers across the globe. Hauntingly melancholic and …