October 17 - Noteworthy New Releases
Our favourite releases of the week.
The Fuss – ‘Lay It Out’
Casually desperate, The Fuss are screaming to be heard in their first track of 2025, ‘Lay It Out’. “Tell me I look better than I feel / Tell me I’ll find a way to think clear”, frontwoman Sammy Gilchrist begs through her smooth, velvety vocals. The shoegazey track slots itself comfortably in The Fuss’s pocket and walks the line of melancholy and a burning hot need to be really seen by someone. “Lay it out” drones through the chorus, met with moody, punchy rhythm guitar, a tight drum beat and soft, layered harmonies. Grungy desperation seeps through the lyrics, feeling like it’s been ripped from the pages of your cool older sister’s teenage diary. The Fuss masterfully lay it all out with this track, still holding just enough restraint to leave you wanting more. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen this five-piece live.
Sounds like: Sonic therapy after an emotionally unavailable situationship.
By Millah Hansberry
THB – ‘Greener Grasses’
THB’s ‘Greener Grasses’ has us pondering back to our first crush and all the emotions it brought us. The idea of love blossoming with the perfect person is like having freshly mowed grass and intricately laid flowerbeds. We just need to take the right steps to get there. A healthy love makes us feel inspired and hopeful, which is exactly what THB encapsulates through this tune. It starts off rather stripped back; just bass, guitar and vocals, then a drum kickstarts the heart with anticipation. The chorus hits and brings in a fresh new pace with powerful rock vocals filled with raw emotion. The peak of this song; the rose of the garden, if you will, is a shredding guitar solo that brings out the stank face, hitting all the notes you want to hear. With all the trimmings they’ve put into this song, THB have made a mighty fine garden with ‘Greener Grasses’
Sounds like: Watching a rock show with your crush.
By Jannah Fahiz
The Genevieves – ‘Standing In Your WAy’
Sometimes music hides behind a wall of mystery, leaving the listener feeling left out. Other times, it acts as a window straight into the heart of the song. The latter is true with The Genevieves’ single, ‘Standing In Your Way’. The track bursts out from the gates of hell with a straight-up and down drum fill, before crashing headlong into the band’s unmistakable wall of sound guitar tones. In true Genevieves’ fashion, it’s honest, unpretentious, and raw, yet layered with enough complexity to keep the mind probing the beautifully organised chaos. The track occupies that rare middle ground between pure aggression and airy delicacy; it isn’t one of those resume songs of ‘hey look at me, look how many tricks I’ve got’. It slaps you in the face, then holds your hand as you scrape your sorry arse up off the ground.
Sounds like: Getting away with something naughty as a kid.
By Oscar Ellery
DIVEBAR YOUTH – ‘How You Doing?’
The potent emotional ambiguity of DIVEBAR YOUTH’s new single ‘How You Doing?’ circles around a single, ominous piano note like a shark in bloody waters. Its lyrics, which are comforting on the surface, are buried in splintered, technoflavored synths and heavy downbeats. So, while a line like “don’t be afraid, nobody’s watching, it’s not too late” may initially read as innocent, there is something sinister lurking in the subtext. The effect is disconcerting. DIVEBAR YOUTH wields incongruity between words and music with an eerie attention to human psychology: the track is designed to confuse you, and as it leads you down a dark garden path, you’ll find its grasp impossible to escape. Not that you’d want to, anyway.
Sounds like: CCTV footage.
By Jack Paech
Jawgee – ‘In My Own Time’
While the name JAWGEE might not seem familiar, it won't take long for dedicated music-lovers to recognise it as the musical project of Georgie Evans, who has taken time out of fronting local legends Molly Rocket to share a taste of country swagger. JAWGEE's debut single, 'In My Own Time,' is an intriguing and endearing earworm which is undeniably hard to ignore. It's difficult to speak of JAWGEE without comparisons to what fans may best know Evans from, but that's part of where the majesty of 'In My Own Time' comes from. Eschewing louder, alt-rock compositions with forceful vocals in favour of something a little more DIY and breezy, it's an auspicious debut which leaves us wondering just what other surprises Evans may have in store for us.
Sounds like: A lazy afternoon spent hearing your best mate show off their musical talents.
By Tyler Jenke
Normal Behaviour – ‘Famous’
With ‘Famous’, Normal Behaviour envelopes a desperate longing to achieve in a tight indie pop package. It’s an all too familiar feeling for many artists; behind every ‘just for fun’ band is a soft-pedalled desire to make it big. Preluded by minimalist verses, frontman Cameron Henchske shows no signs of timidity in announcing his dreams in breakout choruses. Layered on boxy synths and shouty backing vocals, Henchske’s dreamy croon is the cherry on top of an anthemic moment. The on-the-nose lyricism only serves to enhance the song’s sincerity- it’s easy to tell this one was written from the heart. Off the back of an extensive US tour supporting Atlas Genius in 2024 and recording their debut album in LA, it’s not too far-fetched to say that ‘Famous’ may soon be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Sounds like: Singing your dreams into existence.
By Finn McCole
