It’s hard coming up with enough new superlatives to accurately describe an Infinity Broke album. Inevitably epithets and phrases such as contained chaos come to mind, along with freight trains careering out of control, sonic explosions, disturbances in the cosmos, mind shattering shards of metal. It’s enough to suggest that you should ensure any sound system delivering this music is robust and adequately insured. For it will be sorely tested.
And what a cathartic joy emanates from every track of their new epistle ‘This Masthead’.
Infinity Broke are helmed by living icon Jamie Hutchings (formerly of nineties indie legends Bluebottle Kiss). Hutchings for me is one of the main architects of what I label the Marrickville Sound – bands mostly emerging from the inner west of Sydney with an esteemed pedigree (members from prominent bands in the eighties and nineties) and a new level of energy and creativity.
The band’s sonic palette seems to have developed since their last release, 2021’s ‘Your Dream, My Jail’ (reviewed by me here) with a more layered approach and, dare I say, a little more pop sensibility (tempered by the usual barbed wire strands wrapped around it). There are two movements present in the album that showcase the band’s versatility.
Opening track premiered by your truly last month, ‘Abject Object’, has an ominous barely restrained delivery – Hutching’s falsetto vocals recalling a malevolent glam rock god before aggressive out of control guitars cut through like an unhinged farmer with a scythe in a field of barley. Hutchings shoves aside the glam rock delicacy as he increases the velocity and power of his vocals, caterwauling and exhorting like a demented preacher.
According to Hutchings, his stream-of-consciousness style lyrics were inspired by time spent working in huge, empty, glass-obsessed houses and the sterility of the material world they represent. Ever present is the barely controlled chaos that manages to enthrall and hypnotise in a cotton wool cocoon while leaving you clutching your pearls with joy. ‘Abject Object’ has all the discord and cacophony you have come to love and expect from Infinity Broke.
Second track ‘On Hold’ has animalistic grunting and feedback to entice you in before a wild discordant saxophone frames the edges (redolent of Laughing Clowns) before an ever so sweet melody in the chorus momentarily discombobulates you. This is Infinity Broke encapsulated in one song: you never know where they will take you but the journey is always so enthralling.
‘Snowdome of Dreams’ takes a page from The Birthday Party and then tears it up with its prowling menacing bass, squawks ands squeals and scything guitar riffs which billow through the ears, like the worst nightmare you want to revisit to experience again. Handclaps have never sounded more terrifying across the seven minutes of disturbia and the harmonised chorus interludes are as sweet as demented clowns. The result is some kind of hypnotic dream fugue that is incredibly cathartic as it is terror-inducing.
‘I’m in My Prime’ jingles and jangles with an almost sweet sixties sparkle: proving that Infinity Break are not simple to define or easily confined to one genre. ‘Yellow Sword’ is a brief instrumental interlude that clatters and clangs in the ether with a brittle edge and a martial step while ‘Five Storeys Down’ continues with a military beat and yearning vocals – sparse and evocative, mysterious chanting vocals in the distance. Hutchings’s vocals are never more raw and passionate, expressive and distant.
‘Scum Valley’ take another direction with its motorik drum beat and soft pop delivery. There’s harmonies, melodies and a brief tang of sweetness – humming even – with a saxophone framing the edges like the soundtrack to a Raymond Chandler-based film. This relative sweetness continues in ‘Population of One’ with its pop sensibilities and melodies infused with melancholia.
Final track ‘A Thousand Windows’ is a smooth liquid track that puts Hutchings’s vocal range to the fore but also highlights the úber cool singing, sparkling talkative guitars that shimmer and sparkle throughout.
‘This Masthead’ is a tale of two cities. The first half is a dirty noisy dangerous Gotham City filled with existential dread and anxiety, a hint of excess and danger at every note. The second is one of recovery and reflection, a hint of post-hangover respite, more yearning and, dare I say, delicacy.
Infinity Broke’s sound is created and enhanced by the two drum attack and guitar playing that defies all conventions, reminding me of the late great Rowland S Howard at times. ‘This Masthead’ is evidence of a band that is willing to explore and innovate and create something that evokes a huge range of emotions across its nine searing tracks.
‘This Masthead’ is out today through the inimitable Love As Fiction Records and available through the link above and via all streaming sites.
Infinity Broke are hitting the road to launch the album – details and tickets available here.
Feature Photograph: Cody Moore
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