ROI – Maths and Engineering
Trigger warning, if you are a person who is prone to #feelingthings then this song isn’t for you. Or maybe it is for you, I guess it depends on how open you are to the idea of weeping into your pillow tonight. ‘Maths and Engineering’ is lifted from an [as yet untitled] upcoming record soon to be released by Brisbane duo ROI. Barnaby Gickel and Matt Schrader have played intermittently with various Brisbane projects but under the moniker ROI they’re releasing a series of songs featuring a range of guest vocalists. There doesn’t seem to be any intention to leverage the brand of any of these vocalists because damned if I can find any reference to who is singing on this track. The vocal reminds me a little of Rohin from the Middle East and a lot of Grand Salvo but the underlying lyricism of the thing is the cincher. There’s very little subtext, just a plainly-spoken narrative that takes you on a journey through a suburbia that could be any of Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney if he didn’t explicitly mention Birdee Num Nums and the Brisbane River. The cues used to establish the setting all stick perfectly in my nostalgic longing for simpler school years- that friend who was the first to have internet at home, inter-school athletics carnivals, the significance of a friend at school being an adopted child. Simple emotional reference points that weren’t battered by the constant onslaught to bring your life forward, to have things and to be things. I won’t speak to the story that weaves through these settings because it’s best received direct but I’ll say that it definitely put me back in my seat for a few minutes. Fingers crossed there’re more tracks as siginificant as this on the album because this is a very special record.
Streaming this one direct from Triple J Unearthed – shoutouts to the good people over there championing records like this one.
Artists you need to know rn
| 1. 1300 |  |
316 |
| 2. Voidhood | |
259 | 3. jamesjamesjames | |
186 | 4. Zan | |
174 |
| 5. Sesame Girl | |
147 |
That’s some potent storytelling seeming to come out of nowhere.
Really threw me on the first 30 listens