★★★★☆
There’s a reason it took until just recently for someone to have the gonads to call their band Australia: it’s a moniker that will invite all manner of cliché and lame comment.
It’s a good job, then, that the Sydney group – formed by core members Guy Fenech, Oliver Marlan and Nick Franklin – has the musical chops to give anyone who hears it something else to consider; mainly that it is an indie-pop band with imagination and talent coming out of its ears.
The lead single from Australia’s debut album, ‘Wake In Fright’, provides one of the best examples of this. A foreboding bassline, Fenech’s crooning and distorted guitars make for a track that ticks boxes on many levels. There’s big production to match all the big synth numbers, while things get softer on the more sentimental ‘In My Dreams’ and ‘Not The Place I Know’. The jewel in the stereotypically antipodean synthpop crown is the danceable ‘Love Is Better’, which brings the ’80s kicking and screaming into the present with unstoppable momentum and a shout-along chorus. Overall, it’s a lot of fun and it’s clear the band doesn’t take itself too seriously despite the lofty name (their T-shirts read “Australia – the band. Not the country, not a country band”).
Tip: for best results, type ‘Australia – the band’ when Googling.
Australia’sPortraits Of People, Places And Moviesis released independently and available now.
