Having signed to UK’s Dalliance Recordings, Melbourne trio HighSchool have announced the release of their debut EP due out in October 2021. And to lure us in, the visceral, sinewy goth-tinged single ‘Sirens’ has been released.
‘Sirens’ promises great things to come: it is a bleak post-punk muscular track that is enigmatic and bold: an insistent, driving bass and drums provide a steady dark foundation for jangling guitars and a hint of roving piano and synths. The distant, cold and raw vocals draw in from a very Australian gene pool that stems from band like The Apartments and The Go-Betweens and flows into more contemporary acts like RVG, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and The Goon Sax.
But this is no slavish copy or pastiche: ‘Sirens’ has a distinctive edge of its own: an arctic heart with celestial harmonies and a heart of darkness, studied, posed and elegant. The lyrics are just as enigmatic and distanced as they are delivered through indelible melodies:
Baby you talk to much
Baby you tie me down
Under the water
Swimming around
February sands
The accompanying video puts on display the band’s insouciance and style with its gothic horror motifs and bleak landscapes:
This is terrific stuff.
HighSchool are Lilli Trobbiani, Luke Scott and Rory Trobbiani and they have been recording their debut EP with the help of Floodlights’ Archie Shannon.
You can get the single through the link below and all the usual download/streaming sites.
