Posts By Grace Pashley

LISTEN: These Guy – ‘Coming Around’

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These Guy 1

These Guy are a Brisbane three-piece who make skewed indie pop music, originally the solo project of singer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Saxby. After kicking around by himself for the first year of the band’s existence culminating in his sweeping but brief 3 track debut EP ‘To Say or Do’, Saxby invited mates Eddie L’estrange and Josh Coxon to take These Guy live. The impact this has had on their more recent tracks is a notable upward swing in the mood of their sound away from the somewhat insular intimacy of the EP. Cue ‘Coming Around’ –  a combination of the lofty vocals and downer lyrics of Saxby’s earlier output with buoyant pop production to creating a track that’s interesting at every turn. 

The absence of any kind of rhythm guitar or solid lines of instrumentation leaves Saxby’s vocals and synth fiddling to carry the melodic weight of the track. The amount of ambient bric-a-brac that has been cut to neatly give structure to Coming Around is a testament to Saxby’s ear for off-kilter production and hopefully points to a more experimental/avant pop future for These Guy.

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LISTEN: Leisure Suite – ‘Sweet Gin’

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leisure suite

Melbourne electro-pop duo Leisure Suite have dropped ‘Sweet Gin’, an extremely smooth, R’n’B-influenced glimpse into their sophomore EP, which is slated for release later this year. It’s the pair’s first completely self-produced track, and they’ve stripped back the instrumentation – which is to say that where there once was the odd guitar lick here and there on their debut EP, now there are none. Instead, downtempo beats steer Leisure Suite down the yellow brick road of spaced out hip-hop production.

Even the builds feel light, with Bridgette Le’s vocals allowed to do all of the leg work – and boy am I ok with that. She doesn’t need to explore much of her range because every note that leaves her mouth is disarmingly lush. ‘Sweet Gin’ has clocked over 6000 listens since its release four days ago. Either people were desperate for more Leisure Suite or you just can’t listen to Le’s voice less than about 100 times. Either way, it’s a pretty irresistible morsel of warm electro-pop.

They’ll be launching the single in their hometown at Hugs & Kisses on the 25th of July.

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LISTEN: Donny Love – ‘Carnivorous Man’

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donny love

Gold Coast beach blues quartet Donny Love are sad for your heartbroken arse, ladies. They get it, you’re sick of serial sleazebags but that’s probably just because you live on the Gold Coast. In fact, their grasp of your feels are SO FIRM they slip into your head and sing about your issues in first person towards the end of their latest track ‘Carnivorous Man’.

The track works with the band’s knack for time signature breaks and fast-paced vocal lines. ‘Carnivorous Man’ could be the female rebuttal of an earlier track, which uses a similar structure to deplore the age old ‘good guy needs sex too’ dilemma. Andrew Hodges’s lyricism is a standout, and I’m pretty happy to accept “true love constipation” as the only metaphor for emotional unavailability I will need ever again. His quick-witted snipes are sped along by snappy guitar licks that would give The Growlers a run for their money, in fact I think the room would have reached peak beach goth when Donny Love supported the California ~*dreamboats*~ on a handful of their east-coast dates earlier this year.

The ‘Carnivorous Man’ tour continues at The Bearded Lady in Brisbane this Friday in their finest “comfy sandals”, with shows in Melbourne and the GC to follow.

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INTRODUCING: Uncle Bobby

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Uncle Bobby

Uncle Bobby is the project of 18 year old Melbourne guy Robbie Downie and he’s about to steal you away down his glitch-psych rabbit hole of wonder and WTF. Besides a clear proficiency in psych rock, Downie is adept at constructing melody from a seemingly random assortment of sound, and his latest track is a bloody treat for any Cream Collective fans in the crowd. ‘My Mind is Already Gone’ throws a sitar underneath the glitch and sparse house that crop up on his beaut debut EP, Flick My Switch, building on some of the sunnier efforts of his initial output.

Downie’s latest track floats, ducks, weaves and warps before restructuring itself at the end of this glorious weird trip. For one guy to be able to process this many layers in his head and arrange them in a somewhat-cluttered but still accessible way is pretty impressive. It’s not the first sound you would imagine Downie turning to after his ten track debut, but in reality the breadth of sound on Flick My Switch is so expansive I realised I had no idea what the next logical step would be for this guy who must have to actively fight to keep good ideas inside his head.

Downie could probably squeeze a melody out of a rock, and this self-produced track is an extravagant feather in his cap. The fact that he has already shown such a diverse sound is exciting in this era of psych-wash – he’s original and talented and going places.

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Set Sail – ‘Girls on Bicycles’

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Sydney indie pop quartet Set Sail have dropped another single from their forthcoming EP Good Vibes. ‘Girls on Bicycles’ sees the band build on their decidedly more electronic, synth-heavy direction than previous EPs. If this track is anything to go by, Set Sail will definitely be conjuring what vibes Jinja Safari haven’t already milked into oblivion.

Look – musically, I think this is a great track, crafted to inspire torrents of sunshine-laden happy good-time chill thoughts. Power to the boys for not just pressing CTRL+C on the bright as hell guitar pop on their first two EPs. I just take issue with any male songwriter who channels the ‘girls just wanna have fun’ vibe. Not even on a political level; I just think it makes the song sound cheap.

As always, vocalist Brandon Hoogenboom’s honeyed drawl is a highlight, and melodically this song is right – that opening harmonised chorus, the funk-laden guitar riff, and is that a flute I hear? Hopefully. But I fear the boys may have thrown the baby out with the bathwater – their first EP had such beautiful acoustic guitar builds, with arrangements that really supported the pop songwriting (see ‘the Warm Up‘). Comparatively, this track has pushed the accepted levels of vapidity in pop songs over the line.

Regardless, ‘Girls on Bicycles’ is 2000% guaranteed to be a hit with their fan base, so kudos should be dealt on that front. I foresee a swathe of savvy bike shop owners engineering a ‘Beach Babe Starter Kit: Buy 1 pastel coloured fixie, receive matching floral headpiece’ deal when the EP drops. Whatever you make of this track, Set Sail are flexing every fibre of their well-trained pop muscle and the new EP will probably be nothing less than a rose-tinted excursion.

Good Vibes is out in July.

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PREMIERE: NAFASI – ‘Window’

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‘Window’ is the first track from Melbourne 4 piece NAFASI: a smooth downtempo, RnB-influenced pop track which feels like one of (what I’m really hoping is) the first in a budding Australian future soul scene, trickling down from the success of Hiatus Kayote. Although they definitely give off Little Dragon vibes, ‘Window’ is not panning to any particular sound or scene, preferring to build on the band’s clear affinity for alt-pop and developing something fresh.

It’s surprisingly well put together for a debut single, which makes more sense when you realise NAFASI came about after the band met studying music at uni. The track’s lyricism is a highlight, with the song sounding like your super eloquent mate who never quite has their shit together: ‘Forgot to come home last night / still walkin’ in my Saturday best.’

They resist the urge to clutter the track with unnecessary frills or fiddling with Phoebe Webster’s sultry velveteen vocals too much – which while we’re here are clearly cause for a throw to Yukimi Nagano. The instrumentation lets the vocal melody carry the track which Webster does admirably, the jumping chorus line is a nice contrast to her tame croon in the verses. Although literally the last thing in the world I ever want to hear outside of my shower is an acoustic mashup of Kendrick Lamar and Beyonce, NAFASI did exactly that earlier this year and Webster’s vocals are just so damn suited to it I willingly listened to it. Several times. To put it simply, Nafasi have produced a clean, well-rounded debut.

They are launching their single at Hugs&Kisses tonight, so get down for some smooth, slow jams.

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INTRODUCING: Zsa Zsa Lafine

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Zsa Zsa Lafine has enlisted serial collaborators Simo Soo and Brendan Maclean for some seriously brash bump ‘n’ grind goth-pop for her new single ‘Milk’ – the first track off her debut album, slated for release later this year. In an unsolicited rebranding of milk as the drink most likely to inspire sexy thoughts, Lafine, Maclean and Soo have pulled an ambitious amount of influences together – like lazers, desert-bound acid trips and probably even some musical influences too.

The first time you hear Lafine drop that sultry milk-appreciation refrain it is so deliciously inviting that the coarseness of Soo shouting ‘WAKE UP TODAY LIKE I OWN THIS SH-’ completely blindsides you – for about a second, and then you eagerly await the next round to join the lyrical ruckus.

It goes without saying that the production is the real hero of this audio dish. The club-ready bass line is over-dubbed with camera flashes, screeching tires and a bunch of other fittingly dark-kawaii sound bites that have been neatly pieced together with the precision of three musicians who make simple work of the humble Banger. If the inoffensive cute of PC Music has got you all emo about the future of Internet-as-art electronic subgenres, let these guys re-assure you that there are still musicians out there making abrasive, high-octane tracks without compromising their Tumblr weirdness.

Catch Zsa Zsa Lafine at Oxford Arts Factory on July 2nd. BYO dairy.

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