★★★

Four years after their debut and following much fan outrage via social media, The Laurels have finally succumbed to what the crowd wants.

With Sonicology, the Sydney boys take us on a hazy adventure through a range of genre styles.

Sonicology sounds like what would happen if The Beatles, The Dandy Warhols and a selection of ’90s Brit pop bands got drunk in a Sydney garage and smashed a bunch of their hits together. The record is full of understated dream pop with a watered down, otherworldly feel to it, and, ultimately, it takes a couple of listens to truly get used to.

It’s easy to get lost in images of enflamed skies upon learning that ‘Reentry’ was written and recorded while the band were camped out during the Blue Mountains bush fires of 2013. Similarly disguised by an upbeat chord progression and light vocals, the black undertones of single ‘Hit And Miss’ go unnoticed until one learns it’s a protest against the mask many people wear to disguise mental illness.

Exhibiting the kind of sound one might not necessarily have expected to come from Lewisham, Sonicology transcends the local, mixing The Laurels’ unique brand of shoegaze bliss a with epic, sonic nods to those who forged the genre before them.

Sonicology’sThe Laurelsis available now through Rice Is Nice.

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