The Breakdown
It may well be the depths of winter in the southern hemisphere, but Melbourne band Blanco Tranco are paying no heed to the clouds and gale force winds blowing over the southern continent. Indeed, there is a golden ray of sunshine radiating from their new EP ‘Get Back To Me When It’s Over’.
Epic walls of shimmering, jangling guitars feature across the six tracks in a dream pop reverie, accompanying indelible melodies and just that little twist of melancholia, needed in any good pop song.
The themes are universal: the vicissitudes of life as you grow older and mature. Guitarist Matt says of the EP:
Each song on the EP is about something different. You could say that an overarching theme of the EP is the experience of challenges and changes in one’s life.
Singer Tiff adds:
In comparison to our first EP which was centred around nostalgia and young love, this release takes more of a turn towards coming to terms with oneself and figuring out who you are and how you feel about the world & the people in it, especially in challenging times.
Like much creative endeavours being released over the past year, the impact of COVID is tangible. Tiff says:
I felt like I was the happiest I had been right before lockdown began and since then everything changed. People hate talking about it because they want to just forget about it but the impact it had on us is undeniable and difficult to explain.
‘Punch Drunk Love’ sets off the EP at a cracking pace with its high stepping beat, crystalline guitars and yearning vocals. The vocals have a warm enveloping velvet soft and expressive delivery. ‘Take Care Of Yourself’ transports you like a summer drive along the coast, the chorus and echo turned up on the guitars with an undercurrent of fuzz. The layered harmonies create a glow.
‘Santorini’ has a day-glo resonance – there is a pop sensibility that reminds me of The Sundays with a touch of Alvaays with a deep sense of yearning. The arpeggiated guitars and sparkle feature in ‘Swim Between The Flags’ with Tiff’s wry delivery – quirky vocals that twist and turn with vitality.
The guitars in ‘Lara’ splash colours across a vast cinematic canvas, creating a sky-scraping architecture in the process with the vocals liquid and ambulant just below the surface. Final track ‘Petrichor’ continues in the same vein with its gamboling guitar riffs and driving bass and an ebb and flow with an indelible anthemic quality with its pop refrain.
‘Get Back To Me When It’s Over’ is a brilliant collection of pop gems with a crystal cut production and guitars that shimmer like stars in the firmament. With yearning golden vocals adding a filigree of gold, the overall result is something quite special.
‘Get Back To Me When It’s Over’ is out today and available to download and stream though all the usual sites and through the link above.
Blanco Tranco officially launch ‘Get Back To Me When It’s Over’ on August 18 at The Bergy Bandroom in Brunswick, alongside a star studded line up that includes Great Australian Bank, Wilding (a regular on our pages) and Total Care.
The EP will also be available on a limited edition run of vinyl, with 2021 EP, ‘I’ve Been Dying To Tell You’ and single, ‘Devil’s Ivy’ featuring on Side B.
Feature Photograph: Juan Caicedo
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