I was flummoxed by Ara Koufax’s ‘Converge’ when I first heard it. Who are these people as from where did they receive these otherworldly powers? Sadly there was no origin story to speak of (I was hoping for something along the lines of a Night Man origin story) but rather a case of an already outstanding duo doing their solo projects, but together- as a duo, you know what I mean? Ok fine it’s Naysayer & Gilsun under another name but a necessary other name to denote a necessary other music. Ara Koufax is brighter and housier than it’s N&G brethren but my word, that first single was neeeeeeext level, and we’re already starting on maybe level 12 or 13 or something. They’ve hopped an ocean or two these past couple months to bring us this next track, out as part of Oceans Apart through the seemingly defunct Cutters Records. Maybe this heralds a few new Cutters releases- we can but hope. Normaltimes these Ara Koufax tunes will be out through Gill’s own Downtime and I’ve it from a reliable CI that there are a number of newies on the way. In the meantime, be warmed by piano samples lifted indirect from 90s happy hardcore and the sort of dancefloor positivity that you can usually only glean from tracks Sunchyme. I imagine the ear to ear smile our Cutters Records executives had on their million dollar faces when this song dropped in their inbox was something similar to my own when I repeat play this number.

Leon Osborn’s metallic take on the lead single from Willow Beats’ Water EP is righteous to the point of holier than though. Come down off your mountain Osborn, WE KNOW YOU’RE GOOD. The broken drum loops snap and click largely oblivious to the vocal and wholly adrift from the original track. Th main counterpoint to the beat end is the dial tone synth that, hanging like a held button but at just the right tone to warm the metallic coolness of the rest of the track. Reap a Leon original below so you can know what you’ve been missing all this time. He’s been coming up through that Die High / Pilerats Perth scene for a minute and you’ve gotta think that with jams like these attention need be paid.

Yum.

I’ve listened to this song a whole bunch of times this week because of the harmonies, because of the voice but also because I think it’s one of the most interestingly produced folk tunes I’ve heard in a long time. If this is self-produced, tip of the hat to you Gordi, you’ve done well indeed. Weird satellite sounds after each chorus and various horn samples kick about in strange places. Backing vocals are trimmed and clipped cleverly. She’s trigger happy on the reverb but I’ve always been partial to a wet vocal and when she goes deep on the harmonies it’s full as to bursting. The lyrical imagery might be a bit vanilla but it’s almost not worth mentioning with everything else this song has going for it.

Everything about this project is slightly off. I’m going to open proceedings by pointing upward at the title of this post and artist, ‘Max Quinn’s Onamatopenis’. We’re off to a strange start. You’ve now hit play. Was that the sound of someone scratching a record? I think so. Here are some synths tones that I remember only from HelloGoodbye records gone by and a voice full of Ben Gibbardesque nuances. Words that end in exhaled breathes and that same tonally expressive way that made Death Cab records a little bit more meaningful than otherwise. I don’t think Max Quinn (I’m shortening the title from here onwards) goes out of his way to try to hide his Death Cab crush, he even references ‘What Sarah Said’ in that ‘Tiny prayers to father time’ bit, which I thought was BRAZEN MAX, JUST BRAZEN, but then I read the lyrics and he’s directly quoting the song. Please take the time to read those lyrics, it’s actually a very well constructed piece of verse. So when I say that everything about this song is a little off, I kind of mean that I really rather love it. I’m sick of the overpolished sheen of producer vocalists existing within stylistically safe sample packages. This is risk taking and it’s noisy and it’s odd and it doesn’t make much sense because it’s starts from a lyrical launchpad and then pads it out with sounds that follow a thematic course rather than sounds that sound current and sharp. Substance over style, you might even say. There’s a record to follow very shortly.

Before I’ve listened to a note (but also I’ve listened to a few of them already if I’m being honest, because Tim Shiel just spun the whole darn track on Something More) this song has me onside. Within the name is a cute little language gag, a split spelling of the word fifty that has that same disrespect for the English language that people say George Bernard Shaw did (though apparently it actually WASN’T his concept) when he argued that the word fish could be spelt ‘ghoti’ using existing english phonemic structures. And indeed why shouldn’t it be spelt phiphti? If one band has earned the right to spell anything, any way they damn well wanna, it’s I’lls.

There’s a little faint click track across the first minute fifty of the track, there to remind you that no matter how little the band care for spelling, less still will they show regard a comfortable time signature. I’m pretty sure this song is written in thirty one / five, a former favourite of celebrity woman Paris Hilton as well as the late Bonhoeffer, the first for it’s ability to satirise ‘the It Girl lifestyle’ and the second by virtue of its moral purity. So you’ll understand my excitement when I see the hallowed thirty one / five at play here. There are those seriously beautiful I’lls chords that spend periods all bunched into long padded warmth and other times tweaked into stacatto pips and pops. There’s shades of King Of Limbs but it also reminds me of what would happen if three of Melbourne’s best musicians decided to make five and a half minutes of craftily patient slow-release that didn’t assume itself as quick as KoL. It’s a real numbers game this Fifty-Phiphty so it’s with a certain respect that I award the hallowed Sound Doctrine ‘Five Dreams Out Of Five’ (if that doesn’t make it to the press kit then nothing will) and I offer a monetary reward to anyone who can graphically represent that rating.

Buy yourself a download or a vinyl.