Starting in the tiny southern capital of Hobart at the edge of the world before moving, as bands often do, to Melbourne, Quivers have caught global attention with their unique brand of melancholy indie pop: a classic antipodean style of jangling guitars and yearning vocals, burnished a little more brightly than many peers with a sparkling sheen. Signed across the globe to Ba Da Bing (Nth America/UK), Spunk Records (Australia/NZ). and Bobo Integral (Europe/Rest of World), they are quietly taking over, and with their new album ‘Golden Doubt’, you can see why.
According to the band, the album is all about:
…the rush of feelings and fears when you give in to falling for someone. It’s also an album in love with other albums, and the other bands around us.
Influences abound but never take over: there is an unique patina to the songs on this album. ‘Golden Doubt’ is an anthemic masterpiece: a bold and imperious release that jumps out from the speakers with a clarity of production and a songwriting craft that is brilliant and nuanced.
Opening track ‘Gutters of Love’ sets the scene perfectly: a haunting refrain, sparkling guitars, shimmering harmonies and celestial melodies. The accompanying super 8 video is a charming home made piece that exudes joy:
There is a clear antipodean sheen – The Go-Betweens meeting The Chills with a touch of humour in the repeated refrain – after all the serotonin is gone, could you ever fall in love with someone?
‘When It Breaks’ has celestial jangling guitars and the sort of open and melodic delivery like The Bats and with an enhanced and gorgeous layer of shimmering harmonies. It has pulse quickening melodies that are ascendant and sparkling, touched with a minor-chord melancholia.
‘Hold You Back’ has a slamming Motown swing and a bight bubbly pace and a glorious string refrain that lifts, with a charming line and backing vocals: I want to hold you but I don’t want to hold you back. It’s complex and multilayered and yet so simple and direct: filled with a joie de vivre that is infectious:
‘Nostalgia Will Kill You’ has a fifties doo-wop flavour, a theatricality that glows with aching yearning and reverberation.
By contrast,’Chinese Medicine’ returns to a kind of REM style jingle jangle pop with an Australian flavour – tales about the minutiae of life that with an unutterably charming discourse. Celestial choruses define this album: Quivers have an ability to craft indelible refrains and tales with a glorious heart-achingly beautiful delivery and a yearning romanticism: La la la la loneliness – don’t go getting used to it.
‘You’re Not Always On My Mind’ augments the yearning tones with its gorgeous melodies with the epithet to the title – just mostly all the time – another sign of the overarching deep romanticism in the poetic lyrics:
You’re not always on my mind
Just mostly all the time
We would watch the rain on the white lines
Still so far away from where you are
The impossibly beautiful delivery is matched by the simple monochromatic video:
Final title track, ‘Golden Doubt’ is a quite reflective ballad that is filled with a self-deprecatory sense of humour and an acute ability to portray the vicissitudes of life with a sense of pathos and clarity. It is studied and elegant and a fitting way to leave an extraordinary album.
I’ll be honest: I don’t know how I have not come across Quivers earlier. This is a hidden surprise for me, and what untrammelled delight to discover them, however late.
‘Golden Doubt has all the hallmarks of classic antipodean indie pop: celestial melodies, chiming guitars, swooning strings, heavenly melodies and vaulting choruses, all delivered with a lyrical poetry that has an indelible glow.
You can download/stream ‘Golden Doubt’ here and through the link below:
Quivers have just announced an Australian-wide tour later in the year – details below and details and tickets available here.
2 comments