Premiere: Brisbane’s enigmatic Fingerless unveil their long awaited album ‘Life, Death & Prizes’ and it’s well worth the wait.

It is with the greatest of pleasures that we bring you an early listen to the long awaited album from those highly talented musical chameleons from Brisbane, Fingerless. A series of utterly brilliant and innovative singles over the past few years has ensured Fingerless are one of my favourite exports from the deep north, and one that I was happy to catch live during the second birthday celebrations of their esteemed label, 4000 Records back in 2021.

Most of the tracks have already been released as singles over the past two to three years and it is a joy revisiting old familiar territory.

Opening track ‘You Are Going To Die’ has a wry and ironic message about the pointlessness of existence, delivered in the kind of pop messaging package XTC did so well, with an additional spacey, psychedelic thrum and a dash of humour. There is a self-deprecatory dry wit in the tone with the gentle arpeggiated guitars and sitar riffs arcing in the firmament and the gentle vocals dripping with an acidic edge. The music spins into something that appears to be the the result of imbibing that very acid, before an upbeat jolly canter is suddenly cut off like a fatal heart attack.

The accompanying video from sourced footage is hilarious: the bonhomie of blokey blokes who are all probably dead by now underlines the futility of everyday existence, with a sardonic grin:

In second track, ‘Truth’, Fingerless point their noses at what I would call Bond Rock: a song that would brilliantly fit into the dramatic opening sequence of any James Bond movie. In this particular palette, Fingerless have painted a vast cinematic soundscape with dramatic sweeps and sonorous vocals. Of course on a more normal viewpoint, this could be seen as slightly bluesy, straight rock track, but that is too reductive. Fingerless have imbued ‘Truth’ with their own inimitable style. It’s a torch light ballad with flame throwers.

‘Truth’ was recorded in a studio in real time: it’s raw and visceral, studied and elegant. Singer/guitarist Marc Cheeseman says of the process:

We wanted this recording to sound like our live performances, not an overproduced, technically-accurate studio recording. So we recorded the backing track live with no click track, and then just overdubbed the vocals and a few finishing touches.

The result is nothing short of excellent.

‘Scarborough’ is a new track that has a dreamy psychedelic burnish and a gentle rhythmic, revolving beat with Cheeseman’s vocals a distant reverie. The track has an elegiac flow, sombre and delicate like the pitter pat of a waterfall. Like a burning fuse, the track slowly grows in power and force – there is something almost pastoral and baroque in the delivery like an ancient ballad.

‘Get My Money Back’ is a swaggering joy. Opening with a dream-like Gregorian chant with a spacey blur, the song launches into a spectacular, driving rhythm – there’s an attitude-laden tilt infusing psychedelic glam style with a rock’n’roll bluster. It’s The Triffids mixed in with a little T-Rex, a little Texacana twang and (did I mention this before?) bucketloads of swagger:

‘Leaf of Stone’ – one of my most favourite tracks over the recent years – is a psychedelic wig out, a stately track that begins in a psych-folk fugue – all nuanced and layered – and slowly ascends to a heavenly powered finale.

Marc Cheeseman describes the deeply thought out philosophy behind the track:

‘Leaf of Stone’ explores our reliance on, and use of, past ideas and symbols. Why do we all individually style ourselves with particular clothing, referencing a particular era or style, while excluding a range of other clothing options and styles? Why do we only wear this shape of sunglasses, and not this other shape? And, ultimately, what does this achieve? With each decision comes an incremental death of potential actions and draws a line in the mud between what can be done and what cannot. Our future ‘selves’ are built upon an increasingly formulaic and patterned version of our present, and past decisions. Each decision is a reference to a past event, but also becomes itself a reference point for future choices. For every symbolic and stylistic choice represents the death of a set of future actions on the one hand, and an opening up of future possibilities on the other. It is both death and preservation, like a leaf of stone.

The song was captured live without click tracks and minimal over dubs, recorded and mixed by Darek Mudge (Screamfeeder, Tired Lion, Violent Soho) and mastered by Matthew Gray (The Red Paintings, Mental As Anything, The Screaming Jets). This lends an organic fluidity to the sound, and Cheesemen further details the sounds achieved:

Of the few overdubs we did, my favourite was an idea we stole from The Beatles’ tune ‘Blue Jay Way’. When they finished mixing that recording it was copied to a separate tape, hooked up two machines, and placed the two copies of the song on each machine. They played one forwards, fading in, and one backwards, fading out, and recorded that to another tape! We were able to reproduce this whole process digitally which was a bunch of fun and (I think) sounds great.

This creates an aural dynamism in the track, augmented by the band’s undoubted songwriting prowess. The result is a sound touched with a sixties psychedelia, a seventies corduroy comfort and a contemporary production.

If the charts were filled with intelligent pop and radios run by people who love music, this would have been a hit.

You just don’t know where you are with Fingerless. One minute they are producing psychedelic shoegaze slacker rock with the odd Gregorian chant thrown in, the next thing they produce ‘Sympathetic Love’ which is unlike anything I’ve heard before. But the thing is, they are brilliant enough to pull it off and produce one of the most intriguing tracks I’ve heard in a long while. These musical misfits describe the single as futuristic folk pop or AI Indie Rock. It is Kraftwerk meeting Peter, Paul and Mary. Pharrel Williams mixed with a touch of Air. It is absolutely marvellous – innovative and creative and a joy to listen to.

Marc Cheeseman says of the themes of the song:

Relationships are a process involving the interaction of (at least) two independent systems. Humans, electrochemical machines, have spent thousands of years living in large, complex societies, attempting to understand and improve how we co-exist (and we’re still not very good at it). As sentient artificial lifeforms, a different variety of machine, are increasingly integrated into our hypermodern society, there is a risk that the interaction of these new independent artificial systems will develop into a positive feedback loop; moving the affected systems away from an equilibrium state towards instability, and ultimately chaos. Don’t panic? Don’t feed back!

There is a deeply ingrained sense of humour in this exposition but there is also a clear indication of the boundless musical curiosity and intelligence behind this music. Cheeseman apparently used free text-to-speech software to create artificial vocals for the verses.

Another new track, ‘Compare The Feeling’ enters with a thrashing bluster and crashing guitars before swerving into something quieter and reflective, dreamlike and ethereal and then returning with a blast. It’s a track that ebbs and flows, from the dark to the light, constantly subverting expectations.

Final track ‘Tambourine Addict Who Plays the Drugs’ is a phenomenal psych-folk rollercoaster of a ride. Referencing the legendary Joel Gion, the madcap tambourine player and all round star of The Brian Jonestown Massacre (BJM), the song is a hazy fugue of swirling guitars, thumping rhythms and a psychedelic high that perfectly walks the line between genres while capturing a unique sound.

Singer/guitarist, Marc Cheeseman said of the recording of this song that the band:

…wanted this recording to sound like our live performances, not an overproduced, technically-accurate studio recording. So we recorded the backing track live with no click track, and then just overdubbed the vocals. We also sneakily added some acoustic guitar for extra “vibes”

The result is has a veracity about it – a warm organic feel that starts with a slow build dreamy introduction, punctuated with a thunderous chorus, and culminating in a crescendo, riven with a motoring drone spine throughout. It nods at BJM, with the bombast of The Stone Roses in parts and a touch of seventies stoner rock.

‘Life, Death & Prizes’ is an astounding collection of sonic gemstones – wandering across the universe with a degree of precision over a variety of genres from shoegaze psychedelia to krautrock via Gregorian chanting. On this scintillating journey, Fingerless display an incredible level of innovation and creativity, underpinned by an astounding level of musicianship with pop sensibilities and a grand theatricality. This is truly a magnum opus.

You can download and stream the album here from 20 October or through the link below.

This is the band’s fourth album and came together after much gestation and tribulations.

When recording started, Fingerless consisted of a fresh-faced 4 piece band of friends (Marc, Warwick, Jonny, and Zara – two of which were married), and an open world full of possibilities. By the time they had finished recording the final overdubs in early 2021 only 3 members remained (Marc, Warwick, and Jonny) – divorce had shaken the band to its foundations, and of course the brave new post-2020 world was rapidly unfolding in unexpected ways, which caused many delays in finishing the album. After Zara and Jonny split up, Zara moved to Melbourne and has been heavily involved in the preparation of this album from her new home – including recording some final overdubs while she was back in Brisbane on a brief visit. Thankfully Zara and Jonny are still very close friends, and she’ll be joining the band up on stage when they head down to Melbourne for some shows in the near future.

Fingerless are and have been:

Marc Cheeseman – guitar, vocals, sitar, keys, percussion
Warwick Epiha – bass, backing vocals
Zara Bennett – keys, backing vocals, percussion
Jonny Pickvance – drums, backing vocals, percussion

The artwork for the album’s front cover features a family portrait photo of Bennet when she was about 4 years old. 

Feature Photograph: Jonny Pickvance