★★

There is something quite childlike-innocent about Ciggie Witch’s second album Classic Connection. Picking up where 2014’s Rock And Roll Juice left off, it is loaded with languid guitar pop melodies, not-quite-in-tune vocals, and some altogether literal lyrics. Similarly, the record covers the same ideas; not fitting in (whether in the city or their hometown of Wagga Wagga), existential woes and figuring out your path in life, and all the while dawdling, procrastinating and just generally killing time.

As evocative as the name Ciggie Witch is, and also given the band’s size and talent – the Melbourne six-piece boasts band members from The Ocean Party and Totally Mild – it is a shame that they couldn’t step it up a notch for Classic Connection. The latest single from the record, ‘Walking The Tracks’, is pretty infectious until listening to the lyrics. “Catching the flu from walking in the winter rain, I should be getting fit from all of this walking, I’ve been doing it four times a day”. Sounds more like snippets of a conversation than a song.

Charming but prosaic, there isn’t a whole lot on Classic Connection that Ciggie Witch haven’t already said.

Classic Connectionis out Friday June 3 through Lost And Lonesome.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine