An indie/punk fusion that will prematurely get you ready for festival season.
Ok. So, I’m a couple weeks late on this one. When Spotify notified me about this new release, I was excited. But I was amid one of those music-listening routines where you have a certain playlist of new songs that you can’t wait to listen to on your way to work in the morning. And so, I put the album on hold and forgot about it until a couple of days ago (Just when the sun started coming out, which couldn’t have suited the theme of the album better).
Let’s start off by stating one fundamental truth. The Australian music scene is going off right now. With bands like The Chats, Violent Soho, Dune Rats and many others all releasing new music, one must wander what it is about the land down under that brings out some of the best in rock music. Maybe it’s the Aussie charm of not giving a fuck, or maybe it’s the number of dingers they’re popping. Whatever it is, Dune Rats are doing it too.
This album, and its beautiful balance of indie-rock and punk, is the perfect example of Australian charm. With songs like ‘No Plans’ and ‘Rock Bottom’ highlighting this bands familiar theme of being a happy-go-lucky slacker, you can’t help but somewhat long for the feeling of cracking open a beer on a Monday morning in order to fuel that inspiration to find the best spot to smoke a joint later. ‘Rubber Arm’, being on a similar thematic thread, really demonstrates the trios ability to hone a pop-punk sound whilst writing a catchy chorus that will have you itching to see these guys lives, just so you can scream that same chorus back to them.
Now a real pleasant surprise with this album was the feature of American singer-songwriter K. Flay on the track ‘Stupid Is As Stupid Does’. Now I’ll admit I hadn’t heard of her before but hearing some female vocals on a song by an all-male boisterous trio was pretty refreshing. Plus, there’s something about the song itself for me that’s almost reminiscent of the glory days of Bowling for Soup (One of the many gateway pop-punk bands out there).
There are also a few quick and upbeat songs with a jocular matter about them for you punk-purists out there, such as ‘Crazy’ and ‘If My Bong Could Talk’.
Overall, I’m excited to continue to listen to this album for a while and even more excited to stick it on the aux (should I be trusted by my peers) when the sunny days begin to role round. It’s as if this album was made to listen to in the outdoors with a can of warm fosters in hand, making any future festival gigs for the Dune Rats even more perfect.
Verdict 4.5/5
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