★★★★☆

I Freak Outfeels a lot like a debut album; although it’s only six songs long, it’s a release that says more than its length would suggest.

It cements The Hard Aches as a band to watch, while cramming emotionally and musically dense content into every second, leaving the release bursting at the seams.

After slimming the band down to a two-piece a few years back, The Hard Aches have gotten their brand of emo-infleunced indie rock down to a fine art. Look no further than lead single ‘Glad That You’re Gone’, a tune that blends indelible chorus melodies with lines like “I planned to be dead and buried / by my mid, my mid to late twenties”. Indeed, the whole EP is full of cathartic choruses scientifically engineered to hypnotise the heaving masses in venues around Australia.

Closing track ‘Alcohol And Cigarettes’ is an album highlight, a stark and honest set of stream-of-consciousness lyrics by frontman Ben David paired with a dynamic and shifting backing track. As good as The Hard Aches are with anthemic choruses, they can also hit you in the gut with the same intensity.

I Freak Out packs melodies and energy into one hard-to-resist package.

The Hard Aches’I Freak Outis available now throughAnchorhead.

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