Backseat Mafia has followed Melbourne’s own dark psychedelic export The Silversound closely over the years, and we’re thrilled to bring you the premiere of their new single ‘Hands,’ the second taste of their forthcoming album ‘The Brightness Will Come’, out November 6 via the wonderful Cheersquad Records & Tapes.
If you’ve been with us since our premiere of ‘Rose City’ — the ten-minute Krautrock-tinged devotional that kicked off the album campaign — you’ll know The Silversound don’t do anything by halves. ‘Hands’ continues that expansive streak: a rhythm-heavy, Tropicália-inspired suite that reflects on the sheer vastness of the universe, built from spiky guitars, dancing bass, soaring harmonies and detours that eventually resolve into a transcendental finale.
The track’s genesis, per guitarist Shane O’Mara, came from a meeting of influences:
Andrew (Tanner – vocals/guitar) had been listening to a mess of desert blues-inspired music and came up with the sketch of the tune. After a re-listening to Brazilian band Os Mutantes, I added a psych Tropicália flavour.
The result sits somewhere between a desert-blues drone and the sunbaked euphoria of Tropicália, with the band’s now-familiar Kurt Vile-style loping groove and Grateful Dead-esque exploratory spirit running underneath. The addition of master percussionist Ray Pereira and Loretta Miller’s soaring harmony vocals only deepens the trip.
It’s another strong showing from a band whose members carry serious pedigree: O’Mara has played and recorded with Paul Kelly, Tim Rogers, Lisa Miller, Rob Snarski and Chris Wilson; Andrew Tanner is a founding member of Seven Stories and, alongside drummer Leroy Cope, a key figure in psych outfit Sand Pebbles and The Woodland Hunters; and multi-instrumentalist Stu Thomas moves between Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, Dave Graney & the Mistly, and his own voodoo surf project The Stu Thomas Paradox.
The band formed their self-titled debut album during one of the pandemic’s longest lockdowns, followed it with the ‘FuzzBoxGirl’ EP (featuring a lysergic take on Donovan’s ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’) at the end of 2023, and have spent the time since building toward ‘The Brightness Will Come’. If ‘Hands’ is any indication, it’ll be another set of dispatches from rock’s melody-rich golden age, filtered through Melbourne’s underground.
‘Hands’ is out everywhere tomorrow
The Silversound live:
Friday, October 30 — Shedshaker, Castlemaine VIC
Album launch: Sunday, November 8 — Kindred Bandroom, Yarraville VIC
‘The Brightness Will Come’ is out November 6 on vinyl/CD/digital via Cheersquad Records & Tapes.
