Posts By Carl Redwood

LISTEN: Rolls Bayce – ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’

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Dean McGrath’s Rolls Bayce continue on their path of psych-pop exploration with the release of their new track ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’. The production has been polished up since the release of prior track ‘Arrows’. The song sounds quirky yet familiar, and it’s catchy as hell.

With a tight and dry rhythm section chugging along throughout, McGrath lays down sweet falsetto over raw, warped guitar lines. The track moves at a driving pace, leaving little time to notice how much detail this band can pack into less than four minutes. All that’s missing is a soaring, fuzzed-out guitar solo – but maybe that’s not their thing. Perhaps they’re saving it for the live show.

Bouncy, to the point and just a little psychedelic, ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ is one for the summer festival-goers and spaceheads alike.

You can catch Rolls Bayce live over the next couple of weeks on the tail end of their three-week Saturday night residency at Black Bear Lodge, and in September at BIGSOUND.

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INTRODUCING: Mermaidens

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Dual guitar and drum-kit toting Wellington trio Mermaidens last month put forth a new three-track EP of icy, self-recorded guitar music that may very well send shivers down your spine.

Following on from the release of Bones earlier this year, O sees the band embrace a slower pace and a more spacious sound. In a show of brevity and skilled songcraft, Mermaidens lead you down a grim path with ambiguous intentions. Dark and swirling, O achieves a great sense of depth and movement in the space of three tracks and little more than 12 minutes of music. It’s an almost gothic experience, but it also carries the lo-fi grit of a noise band trying in vain to play quietly late at night.

Their sound is much bigger than their simple instrumentation would have you believe. O is a charming and brief experience that gives you enough in the way of spooky vocal melodies to make you want to listen again and again. Ideally on headphones, alone, and at night.

 

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WATCH: Fuyuko’s Fables – ‘Slappy and Graham’

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Fuyuko’s Fables‘ ‘Slappy and Graham’ is an exercise in restraint and release. It shows the Wellington five piece alternating beautifully between whispered acoustic folk and the slow grandeur of a post rock band.

The various elements are balanced carefully throughout the song, providing a subtle sense of movement as each melodic or rhythmic line is introduced or removed. The track is warm and inviting, and while it does see progression, the changes are never jarring but welcome. By the time the song hits the refrain you’ve been so immersed in its charms that you just nod your head along as the band sings some ‘ooh-oohs’ and quietly leaves you back where you began.

‘Slappy and Graham’ is accompanied by a sepia-tinged video, a slide show of photos that could just as easily have been taken on tour as found in a box in the back of an op-shop. The carefully timed images quietly add a sense of space and majesty to the track’s breathy sound.

 

You can hear the rest of Fuyuko’s Fables‘ latest EP, Everybody is Weird, here.

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WATCH: Orchestra of Spheres – ‘Fingerweg’

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Continuing their reign as the weirdest Wellingtonians you’re likely to encounter, Orchestra of Spheres chant, drone and groove their way through the three-and-a-half minutes of freaky goodness that is ‘Fingerweg’.

A self-described ‘ancient future funk’ band, Orchestra of Spheres relish doing anything but the ordinary, employing homemade instruments and left-of-centre vocals to produce some genuinely unpredictable yet always enjoyable musical madness. You’re just as likely to find yourself jumping out of your seat to dance as scratching your chin in contemplation when exposed to their ritualistic tunes, and leaving one of their shows can feel like you’ve just escaped from a very strange but charming cult.

‘Fingerweg’ was recorded during the sessions for their last album, Vibration Animal Sex Brain Music (yes, it’s as great as that sounds), but its release was reserved for a later 7” single. The track showcases Orchestra of Spheres’ most endearing elements, making a clear case for why they’re so fun and easy to love. The vocals are deadpan, the music sounds both broken and grand, and everything is just very, very odd.

The track is accompanied by an equally disorienting and bonkers video that highlights the band’s penchant for really strange outfits and other proclivities. You will very quickly understand how little you understand what they’re up to. I sure don’t.

You can pick up a copy of the ‘Fingerweg/Lost Days’ 7″ single via Outside Inside Records.

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