One of my favourite antipodean outfits, Naarm/Melbourne band Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird (CTBNF) today announce a new album ‘Rosewater Crocodile’ due out on 27 June through the glorious Double Drummer label. Tomorrow, the band is releasing the second single, ‘Mercury Rising’, off the album and it is another astounding and euphoric piece of music which we are so very honoured to premiere today. And to add a diabetic coma to the sugar rush, the band will be embarking on a national tour to launch the new material.
Moving from a soul gospel style found in earlier single ‘Rosewater‘, ‘Mercury Rising’ is the most fluid, ambulant slice of sinuous funk you could ever have the pleasure of hearing. A syncopated bass that throbs with intensity under the surface creates a hypnotic thread that flows throughout the track, with some wild synths creating a psychedelic multi-coloured hue and splashing guitars adding a crystalline thrill. The result is something quite infectious and utterly mesmerising.
The themes are as sensual as the music itself. Lachlan Rose says:
Mercury Rising percolated in the creative volcano for many years. Riffs at sound check, lyrics on tour etc. Then the band had a day off between shows in Europe, went to a nudist day spa and the song was crystallized. It’s a celebration of fun, sexy love – platonic or otherwise. We wanted the song itself to sound like the world in which it was created; a safe, playful celebration of lascivious love between friends.
Rose’s vocals are louche with a huge dollop of insouciance and sexiness, yelping and soothing at the same time, filled with emotion and highlighted by the angelic backing vocals. Rose is a preacher, a seer, a guru who exhorts, cajoles and entreats, a Pan Piper for the soul with a hint of humour and a wicked glint in the eye.
An instrumental interlude creates a brief melodic diversion that serves to blast the main return into orbit. This is a track that would make an ambulatory challenged person gyrate, reanimate a corpse and shine a blinding light into the darkest corners of the universe and into the heart of the most moribund individual.
‘Mercury Rising’ is out tomorrow (Friday, 9 May) and is available to stream and download here.
CTBNF continue to be one of the most distinctive, innovative bands in Australia at the moment – each single, each album raises the bar exponentially with their orchestral big band sound, their infectious, joyous melodies and inimitable style. They are musical evangelists preaching the most heady and rousing anthems that enflame the vey soul.
They will hopefully be touring overseas but in the meantime deserve the fullest support across Australia. They are too precious a resource to be hidden under a bushel.
The band will be undertaking the Cousin Tony’s “Rosewater Crocodile” Tour – with the first dates announced today:
25 July – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne
2 August – The Ed Castle, Adelaide
9 August – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
12 August – The Brightside, Brisbane
The new album follows their last album, 2022’s ‘Smiles of Earth’ album (see my review here), which contains one of my personal favourite singles of the past decade, ‘When This Is Over‘.
