Melbourne's dark art rock outfit "Funeral Pyres" have a way with well weighted words. Take the track "Funeral Pyres" that literally speaks of a seemingly decaying world, societies collapsing underneath itself while we all consume the required "opiates of the masses", most likely, via our smart phones. Smart phones that are slowly making a lot of people so dumb. The spokesman, auteur with such an exquisitely resonant deeply dark somber voice, singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist, Dougal James cajoles us with a vocal aesthetic that could equally romance our pants off but, instead, delivers brutal truths (thankfully) with lines like, "We're growing up in a sick world / Grappling with pre-apocalyptic bliss" and "We have to learn to live with the guilt that our fathers built for us /We have to stare down the horror of the wounds that our excess opened up" and "I'm fucking sick of these smug pricks / Grinning as they bible thump the world asunder / Do they deserve our trust?" and "We're comfortable in the age of complacency / Swallowing our well-earned rage / There's nothing left to gain".
This is the exact time in history when potent ideas need to be expressed via art. A time to push back against the nonsensical and the evil instead of lazily watching another episode of "90 Day Fiancé" or some other piece of shit show. I do love how "Funeral Pyres" is built on bubbling piano lines as if it is something to be sung by a malcontent lounge singer. The way James' melodies rush for a few lines and then linger on the next in a patterned way is utterly brilliant and I do love his rich vocal aesthetic which is hard to describe (hmmm? maybe an amalgam of Nick Cave, Simon Bonney and Benjamin Hudson McIldowie or thereabouts). I also love the harmonies on the chorus provided by the amazing Tali Mahoney with additional backing vox by Cian Bennet. Press notes indicate that The Sunken Sea is a collective featuring members of Aussie outfits Hannah Kate, Hoi Palloi, Tram Cops and Paper Tapir. Whether the collective is ever shifting, I am not sure but I find any kind of collectives to be vastly interesting in the art they create.
-Robb Donker Curtius
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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.facebook.com/SunkenSeaMusic
https://thesunkensea.bandcamp.com/
The Sunken Sea are a brooding art rock band from Melbourne.
Featuring members of local stalwarts Hannah Kate, Hoi Palloi, Tram Cops and Paper Tapir, the large collective creates music with sincerity and soul that makes your heart swell.
Led by the turbulent lyrics and powerful baritone vocals of songwriter and bassist Dougal James, they forge syrupy harmonies and intricate rhythms that evolve and undulate in thrilling and unexpected ways.
The Sunken Sea, indie rock, alternative rock, indie electronic, singer-songwriter, art rock, Melbourne, Australia, Hannah Kate, Hoi Palloi, Tram Cops, Paper Tapir, "Funeral Pyres",
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