There’s a lot more to this Melbourne four-piece than the instrument referred to in their new album’s title, though pounding percussion remains a major driving force of their heady post-punk sound. Drum points at a shift in the group’s make-up (with Logan Gibson recently taking over from Mark Hewitt on the sticks), but it also marks an evolution of the band’s sound.
Debut album It’s You exuded confidence and successfully captured their live sound, but the follow-up album both consolidates their strengths and points toward new directions. Gareth Liddiard (The Drones) produces, not attempting to fix what wasn’t broken in the first place, but delivering subtle craftsmanship in the background to support the band’s vision.
These are anthems for the alienated, simmering with angst and passion.
What sounds like a spaceship landing introduces the urgent, unyielding lead single and opening song ‘Twist In The Dark’. An ‘us vs them’ theme of dark romanticism against oppressive external forces soon emerges in frontman Adam Curley’s lyrics (“We wake at dawn to hear they’re won” he intones on ‘Rose Blind’), an expansion on the more solitary perspective of the first album. His tightly bound verses are unnerving, repressed and delivered in a lower register vocal, then swiftly uncoiled for furious, frenzied choruses – these are anthems for the alienated, simmering with angst and passion.
Gold Class’ new record Drum is available now through Remote Control.
