INTRODUCING: The Sunbirds

Here’s another rimshot of an excellent band who sound like they were made for better days. Adelaide’s The Sunbirds are probably the first ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ band I’ve actually been excited about in what feels like eternity. The word provokes as much dry wrenching as it does enthusiasm. No one wants to be the neo-goth, the barre chord bitch or that band still wearing driver hats shitting lyrics on top of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club chords when clearly, we’ve all moved on.

Leaving the great divide behind though, The Sunbirds are just so fucking great. These guys have only been going for just under two years, but I feel dutifully ashamed that I didn’t really give their first EP Emergency Christmas more love to begin with. 

Post-humous Name Change is the second release from the Adelaide five piece. This record is wayward and gutsy and somewhat generous with distortion levels. The first half of this release sounds like the band locked themselves in a large room with nothing but My Bloody Valentine‘s Loveless and something potent, then sat back to see what would ensue. I really hope warm, fuzzy 90s throwback stays on as flavour of the year. As for many other local bands who do what they do: bless your snark Oz accent, bless putting it on tape. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m really getting bored of everyone whining about how much Australian suburbia really sucks. We get it, hey. These guys have the shoegaze thing going for them, but it’s been a while since apathy has sounded this sincere. Tracks like ‘One’s I’ve Finally Met’ and ‘Car Crash’ are straight up MBV, but the second half verges closer to golden Lucksmiths territory (‘I Will Scream’).

In short, The Sunbirds have made a record that sounds like Thurston+Kim getting rough, the fading memory of your adolescence AND whatever haze headed goodness you’d like this collection of songs to be. Whether you dig this as much as I do, or get fidgety about shoegaze – what a strong record. Someone needs to hear this.

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