With a makeup from some of Sydney’s coolest bands (and an indelible part of the emerging Marrickville Sound), The Shrugs blast into our consciousness with their pop fuzz onslaught of ‘Shoebox’, which we are proud to premiere today ahead of its release tomorrow.
Members of bands such as Imperial Broads, Belles Will Ring, Sister Jane, Slimey Things, Face Command, Hobo Bordeaux, La Tarantella, Firinn, Bvllvds and Forcefields have combined creative forces and a swaggering posture to produce a effervescent indie pop blast that adds a sixties bubble gum flavour to the intensity of bands like Pixies or The Breeders.
There is a biting message familiar to many facing a rental squeeze and who stand outside looking into the window of smug property ownership in places like Sydney. Songwriter Jed Homes lauds the saviour of rock’n’roll for the excluded:
Back then it was just a lament at how unattainable home ownership feels. The ridiculousness of those “millennial homeowner” articles that hide “parents paid for it” five paragraphs down. The calls for you to “just move more rural” as if the entirety of the life you’ve built in the city can just be transferred a few hours away, with no consequences except a marginal mortgage saving. Now, after a few years of fires, lockdown and rain, the claustrophobia of our apartments is even more apparent – so fuzz and riffs will have to save us instead!
Serving an eviction notice to the smug and complacent, thundering guitars and insistent pounding rhythms provide a sonic undercurrent to the sweet melodies and harmonies, with a leather-jacketed insouciant swagger that struts and poses artistically inside your head and takes up a long term lease. Who cares? The Shrugs do. It’s a refreshing blast of indie goodness timed perfectly for the new era in Australia:
This terrific and thrilling indie pop with a barbed-wire spine is out tomorrow (Tuesday, 24 May 2022) through all the usual download and streaming sites. The Shrugs will be taking their dance worthy and edgy fuzz pop to the legendary Petersham Bowling Club on 27 May 2022, supported by another of our favourites, Lewis Goldmark – see details below:
The Shrugs are:
Sophia Evans – vocals
Lauren Crew – bass, vocals
Matt Ward – drums
Jed Holmes – guitar, vocals
