"Ain't it strange / How things change / How harbours safe turn to crashing waves / Pacts once made / Like tracks engraved / Now warp and fade like an acetate / Overplayed..."
"Gaffer Tape" by Naarm / Melbourne's GLOB is a lot of things. It begins with a decidedly surf punk-esque guitar jag over a driving drum beat but then 15 seconds in explodes into a roller coaster ride of beautifully sort of bohemian psychedelic atmospheres but full of punchy bass anchors, pearly guitar lines and late 70's proto punkian synth lines. The dynamics are rich and Thomas James's vocals, part aloof observer, part stoned sage, croons vocals that are as poetic as they are, at times, curious.
"Gaffer Tape" drives so fucking hard pulling cross generational cues along the way. There is a sense that James on guitar and vox, Lilly Sawenko on keys, Andrew Cossey on bass and Samuel Drew-Rumoro on drums draw from collections in their hands or heads that originally found their way in the cultural landscape via vinyl, cassette, CD and streaming.
AS press notes share all the liner note details:
Produced, engineered and mixed by Michael Badger (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Amyl and the Sniffers) and mastered by Steve Smart (King Stingray), ‘Gaffer Tape’ is a reflection on change, impermanence, acceptance and ultimately, moving on. Bursting with frenetic rhythm, angular guitars, soaring vocals and a synth solo that would make Robert Moog blush, if ‘R U Happy Now?’ was the band’s foot in the door, ‘Gaffer Tape’ kicks that door wide open.]
In the end, "Gaffer Tape" has the appeal of the vibrant indie rock / surf punk aesthetics that seem to explode (at least in my neck of the woods) in 2010 but made even more deep with beautiful musical intricacies and lyrical looks in the mirror. At 2:50 in, after a wonderful smile inducing pitch bending synth solo, "Gaffer Tape" breaks down and builds up in the coolest of ways. It is one of those musical moments that you want to experience live in the middle of a sweaty crowd moving in unison.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7tpK2NoaAqNjdTKlUkam4X
https://www.instagram.com/ohmyglobmusic/
GLOB is an Australian Indie rock band formed in Naarm/Melbourne.
Locked in due to the pandemic during the bitter Melbourne winter of 2020, Thomas James and Lily Sawenko bunkered down and found solace in what had always soothed them, music, nature and cartoons.
It was the latter love that inspired what would become their new musical identity GLOB, named after the four-faced deity from Mars in Adventure Time, Grob Gob Glob Grod. Energised by a newfound love for the lush '60s and '70s rock stylings of artists such as T. Rex, Fleetwood Mac and The Beach Boys and driven by the prospect of a new musical project, the still, quiet days of the lockdown saw Thomas and Lily tinkering away at demos of new songs with a fervour and productivity like never before.
With the easing of restrictions and addition of Andrew Cossey on bass and Samuel Drew-Rumoro on drums, the demos were fleshed out and brought to producer Michael Badger (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Amyl and the Sniffers) where recording for what would ultimately become GLOB’s debut LP began in earnest.
2023 will see the release of subsequent singles from GLOB with a full-length LP to follow.
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