We are very honoured to give you an exclusive listen to the new song and video for ‘Imposter Friends’ from the fabulous Grids and Dots. In the past we have been mesmerised by the absolute delicious output of this band with their unique brand of dreamy immersive pop, and the new material shows the band is continuing on its upward trajectory. Grids and Dots are purveyors of fey, wistful and dreamy pop that floats in the skies like a fluffy cotton wool cloud.
Pounding drums heralds a juicy guitar riff backed up by a sea of aquatic synths before the textured, layered vocals from Carmen Minikus and Daniel Handaru drift in across the horizon: delicate harmonies infused with a tasty melancholy, reflected in the wistful lyrics:
I fell back and down the line
Even when I told her
It was wrong
Tuesday’s hard and lonely sky
Maybe then we smolder
In the fog
I don’t wanna make the same mistakes again
Cause I don’t need to pretend and I don’t need imposter friends
This band for me recalls the glorious hey day of Australian indie pop from The Falling Joys, The Hummingbirds to The Particles and The Clouds, with the same pop sensibilities of more contemporary bands like The Lightning Seeds.
The track is mixed and produced by the legendary Wayne Connolly, who has balanced playing his own music with a varied and successful career as a producer and engineer for some of Australia’s most respected artists, including Josh Pyke, The Vines, Boy & Bear, Paul Dempsey, Youth Group, Underground Lovers, Died Pretty, Hoodoo Gurus and You Am I.
The band says:
This is a song about misplaced trust in people, and maybe just having too much faith in the world and everyone around you having the same good intentions that you do. And then making the same mistake all over again with the next person.
The song comes accompanied by a psychedelic whirling dervish of a video directed by Claire Simpson with the band performing with untrammeled and infectious joy. The band says of the clip:
The video was filmed one blisteringly hot summer day in January mostly in our backyard, being directed, filmed and produced by Claire Simpson. It was a really fun day filled with sing-alongs, silly poses and general mirth
You can feel the radiant sunshine shining through:
This is incandescent stuff. ‘Imposter Friends’ is out tomorrow through Scenic Drive Records (Friday, 16 February 2024) and available to pre-save here. It arrives ahead of an upcoming EP titled ‘Found You On The Weekend’, set to be released by Grids and Dots in the near future. The band says of the EP:
‘Imposter Friends’ was recorded in a set of 4 songs in 2022 at Hercules St Studios, before we took a long break for some personal reasons. We excitedly came back to these songs and mixed and mastered them late last year and into early this year. These songs will make up a new EP ‘Found You On The Weekend.’
This will certainly be something to look forward to.
