Coast Arcade
by Coast Arcade
According to Spotify this young Auckland indie-rock band has as many followers in cities across the Tasman as they do in their hometown. Which suggests this excitable 10-song debut – collecting six previous singles – will give them the solid foothold elsewhere: “export ready” they say at their Bandcamp page.
Although they don’t reinvent guitar-driven rock – buzzing fuzzy guitars to the fore, singer Bella Bavin shouty or vulnerable as required – they play it like they’ve just discovered it.
And the previously unreleased songs – the bristling rock energy of Acetone (guitarist Arlo Birss unleashed), enthusiastically noisy pop of Hallway (precision-drill drumming from Thom Boynton) and thunderous metal underpinning Close to My Chest – are the equal of the advance singles.
They also write from, and for, their generation: the pain after a relationship ends in Afterthought (“grow apart, push me off to make your start … why don’t you talk to me?”); Kids dealing with being between youthful innocence and looming adulthood (“it feels like yesterday when we were alright … feels like yesterday when we were just kids”).
With influences from grunge, shoegaze, power pop and metal, Coast Arcade have distilled essences to blend something that really does sound export ready.
Echomatica
by Echomatica
Two excellent songs by this Auckland four-piece – the dark, ambient-dream pop Love Isn’t Always and the power-chords above a synthscape of Something – arrived in advance of this debut, staking out territory between The Cure, Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees, but with airy pop also in the mix.
Neither single screamed radio play and the album opens with the languid, six-minute ambient Breathe. So they’re confident enough to not rush for attention.
What Is This and Technicolour Dream push synth soundscapes to the fore behind Charlotte (Charlie) McLean’s sometimes ethereal but, when required, strong vocals.
The edgy Waves has early Cure hot-wired with coiled anger: “We’re going to break down the doors, smash down the walls again.”
With the poppy Heartbeat, droning Months of Sundays (obvious Velvet Underground in the mix), prog-pop material (Fragile World, Pretending We’re Human) and a pervading psychic unease, Echomatica offer atmosphere as much as widescreen pop with crisp, silvery guitar weaving through. They may have touchstones in the past but also sound timely in our AI techno-world.
Corridors of Light
by Silk Cut
Auckland’s genre-jumpers Silk Cut is the vehicle for songwriters Andrew Thorne and Justin McLean, who served in numerous bands (Splitter, Thorne, Calico Brothers, Roulettes and more). They value timeless, old school things like verses, choruses and memorable lyrics delivered with commitment.
So here on their third album are short, sharp post-punk British pop (It’s Always You, Friendly Skies), the tart Death of Us (“I don’t know why you asked me to play, you’re only satisfied when you push me away”) and space-referencing acoustic balladry (Supernovae).
The title track is a pointed reflection on the state of the nation with a personal poke (“I wrote a popular song, radio programmer said it’s too long”), Good Morning also contains a barbed stab at breakfast radio blather (“it never stops, talking over the song”) and the thoughtful Heavy Lifting is self-analysis within refined songcraft.
Once more Silk Cut astutely leaven their sharply honed pop-rock with quiet and considered song for another polished memorable album.
