backseat downunder
Track: Sydney’s Lisa Caruso sums up the zeitgeist with her glorious, anthemic track ‘It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas’
It’s been over a year since Sydney chanteuse Lisa Caruso released her highly impressive debut album ‘In Feelings’ (see my review here) and the intervening time has been horrific for the globe in general. In recognition of the deprivations suffered by many, Caruso has decided to release an acknowledgement of the afflictions many suffer during …
Track: Sydney’s End Scene unveil the jangling melodic single ‘Bittersweet Spell’ ahead of release of their new album ‘All My Ghosts’ on 10 December.
There is a recognisable antipodean jingle jangle thrum in Sydney band End Scene‘s reflective track ‘Bittersweet Spell’. With the hallmark features of a beautiful melody, sparkling instrumentation and intelligent, yearning lyrics, this is a classic inner city Sydney sound – what I’ve labelled the Marrickville Sound – with anthemic bounce and an ethereal aura. The …
EP: The delicately beautiful ‘Creatures of Habit’ from Brisbane artist Aren’t is an exquisite triumph. Plus news of launch date.
On aesthetics alone, the artwork for Aren’t‘s new EP ‘Creatures Of Habit’ (illustrated by Grace Taylor) is extraordinarily beautiful. Fittingly, the illustrations have a joyous emotional warmth and fragility that is a palimpsest for the shimmering songs within, reflecting the stunning music within. Aren’t is Fionn Richards – last seen in Brisbane band Requin which burned brightly …
Track: Melbourne’s Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird unveil the glorious anthemic track ‘When This Over’, a track so epically beautiful, you don’t want it to stop
‘When This Is Over’ from Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird, is one of those epic, cinematic tracks that makes you hope that it is actually never ever over. It has an imperious majesty about it that raises the hairs on the back of your neck with its delicacy and its fragile melodies and yearning vocals, …
News: New Zealand’s Mild Orange, purveyors of shimmering dream pop magic, announce new album and release double singles ‘What’s Your Fire?’ and ‘Hollywood Dreams’ as a tasty aperitif
There is nothing balmy or equable about Mild Orange‘s musical output. This year has seen a stream of the most sparkling, dreamy pop magic from one of New Zealand’s most formidable and finest music exponents (see our reviews of singles ‘This Kinda Day’ and ‘Time Of Our Lives’). And now, as a joyous finale to …
Track: Pond’s Nicholas Allbrook releases a beautifully fuzzy and emotive snapshot of childhood in his new track ‘When The Marshes Flood’, and all for a good cause.
With proceeds going to the Environs Kimberley to help protect the Martuwarra Fitzroy River and the Kimberley region of north Western Australia, the new single from Pond singer Nicholas Allbrook is a brittle and fuzzy paean to childhood memories inextricably linked to the environment where he grew up. The deep rooted connections and emotions bleed into …
Track: Terra Pines ‘Harp On’: a dreamy and celestial wander through the clouds
After pleasantly assaulting us with their thumping track ‘Downbeat’ (see my review here) , Brisbane band Terra Pines have pressed ever so gently on the brakes and released the dreamy almost ambient shimmer of ‘Harp On’; a dream-popped sonic landscape with a hypnotic flow and gentle melodies. A muscular bass, shimmering guitars and ethereal keys …
Track: Brisbane’s Lite Fails evokes an electronic pastoral bliss with double single release ‘On A Clear Day’ and ‘What The Bellbirds Were Saying’
Lite Fails is the solo work of Australian musician and historian Henry Reese, and the new double singles ‘On A Clear Day’ and ‘What The Bellbirds Were Saying’ are two sides of an ethereal and pastoral soundscape that crackles and bubbles with an extraordinary ambient clarity. ‘On A Clear Day’ has an animalistic sinewy crackle …
Track: Hobart Curtis has a dream pop ‘Run’: shimmering melodies and an indelible sparkle in his new single.
The new single ‘Run’ from Brisbane artist Hobart Curtis is a refreshing, crystalline, sparkling track, tinged with a melancholic blush and a dream pop fervour. Brisbane is fast becoming institution for the most luminescent expression of dream pop, and Curtis is yet another vital piece of the furniture alongside Hatchie, Rinse amongst others. The instrumentation …
Track: Sydney indie rockers Bellwether see through the ‘Charade’ with a thunderous aural assault, and announce debut gig.
Sydney band Bellwether are purveyors of the most satisfyingly vibrant brand of indie rock – tinged with a quiet/loud ethos and mountain range high melodies. In their news ingle ‘Charade’, layered vocals provide a melodious sheen across the syncopated thundering rhythm section and stabbing guitars. We have already been impressed by their single ‘Shortsighted’ (reviewed …