I’m not in a wordsy mood so let’s keep this honest and let’s keep this brief. There’s five tracks on this album. I like all five of them. The two most wordworthy are Crystal & Moonbeam. Crystal because the articulation is completely riveting, staggering like beatpoetry (but not in an awful way) and hitting syllables on and off beat, languid and free. Sometimes the rhyme falls where I expect it, sometimes it doesn’t, it doesn’t really matter, I plod through the track unthinkingly content with the lyrical movement of it all. I’m not really saying a lot of good things here, it’s been a long week and it’s Friday afternoon so the best has long passed through my system.

I’m pretty sure Moonbeams features an R.L. jones chorus on and it makes sense as the lead single because it’s easily the most listenable track. I mean I *thought* it was Rohin doing the chorus but there’s no mention of it in the notes so maybe I’m cloth eared. The track soars into synth driven euphoria around the minute thirty mark when the chorus drops back in and voila, you’ve got yourself a bonafide winner. I’m seriously enamored with that chorus. It has to be Rohin, it sounds so much like this one back here. **UPDATE** IT IS NOT, I REPEAT IT IS NOT ROHIN. It does however, remain wonderful, so there’s that.

The five track package is reasonably interesting and equally diverse as it should be, the product of three years recording. There’s even a beat heavy track with an MC called Lyndon De La Cruz on it who articulates like one of the dudes from Foreign Beggars. Spin it through, listen closely, pay good attention and appreciate.

Hi friends, how are we doing? Great, that’s great. Really glad to hear it. Wait, what? That sounds awful. I’m sorry. I have something for you though. It’s the perfect thing. It’ll be like the two of you never dated at all! It’s not as as heavy on the surf end of things as their first EP but Sydney’s Sures kind of hinted towards a dwindling surf-pop asthetic on ‘Stars’ and here we are. It’s not altogether absent but we’re probably seeing its back as it wanders slowly out the door, pawing a few of your choice possessions, leaving dirty fingerprints and generally being a pest. See ya surf-pop aesthetic, catch ya later buddy. There’s still reverb in droves but since when did surf-pop have the monopoly on that? Never, that’s when.

I have a whole bunch of mixed reference coming at me when I hear this track. Is this the disenfranchised pop-punk of 2013? Is it the anthem of the lovelorn young adult? It’s got some nice guitar tones but it’s not guitar driven and the way the bassline syncs with drums to to keep things moving forward? We’re not talking about groundbreaking technical ability here but it’s simple and effectively allows the vocal melody to be everything. If you never made the purchase then you should certainly get a-hold of their first EP prior to the release of the second. It’s due on August 23rd, reportedly, and if this first song speaks true then there’ll be no downside to owning the both of them. It’s what we in the business of victory refer to as a ‘win-win’.

The new Valar song dropped yesterday to rapturous internet applause. Wait nope, the internet is an idiot and it didn’t even realise. That bloody internet, you know!? The band gently tapped me on the shoulder.

“Psssst. Tommy”.

“Yes?” I asked?

“Guess what we’ve got for you?” Go on guess.”

“Is it… the gift of caring for each other?”

“Nope, not that! We love that though! But it’s… diversity. We’ve all got all this diversity to show you!”

And so they did. They showed me all their diversity which isn’t any sort of code for their bits and pieces but the simplest way of saying that they’re going to put out an EP real soon that going to be a stylistic mixbag. A real “licorice allsorts” sort of affair. I’m really keen for this one. The three piece come five piece are making tunes that demand a greater audience than they currently receive so please please please take the time to hit go on the below player. This is the step forward in songwriting that I’ve been personally hoping Valar would take for some time and it’s gratifying to see them striding out of comfort zone and into a sharper space. Structurally impressive but also nice to see Blackwood’s vocals put to the test on a technical level when in the past we’ve seen drum and bass parts pushing boundaries but rarely risks taken vocally. And with explorative sounds come explorative ideas, with the two tracks we’ve heard demonstrating a direct line of conceptuality that moves from star to asteroid belt to dark space.

WordPress is trying to to tell me that both conceptuality and explorative aren’t real words. I don’t mind making up words in my posts as long as I know that I’m making up words. Give it a rest wordpress.

If you’re in Sydney and you’d like to catch them live they’re playing a small show with Tin Sparrow and Charlie Gordon via The Smallest Gig.

I found myself leaning into my desktop as I listened to Andromeda, the first track from Laurence’s debut record William, Andromeda (though not the first song by that name we’ve shared together). I found myself leaning inward because the vocals have been levelled quite low and they’re delivered in an entirely vulnerable, quivering hush. It’s quite captivating even if it’s forced me to have my volume screamingly high and the bleeps and blips pulsing out of my office are likely doing our office junior’s head in, but that’s my divinely attributed right as a top-dog big-budget cash-money mega-hyphenated business-type. My high roller status appears heavily at odds with a record this grounded in humility though, so for the purposes of aural relationship I’m going to drop the pretense and recognise this for the rich and resonant expression that it is. Thematically it’s about the struggles involved in maintaining a relationship with someone suffering from mental illness and that content is lyrically present and underscored by a subtlety of sound and a serious attention to detail across the various soundscapes on the record. The layering and the mixed down vocals remind me a lot of Youth Lagoon’s Year of Hibernation. I’ve chosen two tracks to get you started but I really, really think you should listen to the whole record rather than these singular cuts.

The new single from Tim fitz is reportedly definitely the herald of an album impending. Just quietly, but actually not that quietly as this is an unprotected public website, I’ve had the opportunity to listen to said album and it’s rife with experimental oddities and bizarro synth moments and all in all it’s just really endearing. There are some truly creative production choices, especially on the slower more ambient tracks which give more breathing space to both bassline and piano struts which are likely Fitz’s biggest strengths. For the moment though, you’ve just got this first taste with which to content yourself. It’s weird, it’s whacky, it’s euphoric and it’s more infectious than Ebola which is considered by many to be pretty infectious I reckon. Stream at it.

Tim Fitz will be performing in support of Oscar Key Sung & JONES Jnr. as part of the debut Sound Doctrine showcase (co-presented with Circular Key) at FBi Social on May 30. Not to be missed.