There is a recognisable antipodean jingle jangle thrum in Sydney band End Scene‘s reflective track ‘Bittersweet Spell’. With the hallmark features of a beautiful melody, sparkling instrumentation and intelligent, yearning lyrics, this is a classic inner city Sydney sound – what I’ve labelled the Marrickville Sound – with anthemic bounce and an ethereal aura.
The lyrics reveal a charming fatalism and romanticism in a dry laconic delivery that instantly recalls The Go-Betweens and more recently bands like The Aerial Maps and bands on the the Broken Stone Records/Remote Control Records. label.
Least the stars get a little closer
When you speed into the night
Takes nothing to fall
Takes everything to fight
Drove dead into a wall
One too many times
Lucky to be alive and I’m
Never falling into line
The accompanying video is a charming series of scenes in the sunlit, bucolic bush interspersed with performance pieces and a surreal psychedelic element thrown in too:
‘Bittersweet Spell’ can be downloaded and streamed here through all the usual place including the link below:
The single comes ahead of the release of End Scene’s debut album ‘All My Ghosts’ due out on 10 December 2021 – available in CD and vinyl formats here.
End Scene is singer/songwriter James Jennings and multi-instrumentalist/producer Tom Dufficy.
