The Australian quartet
Skegss started their run as scruffy, sun-bleached goofs, cranking out catchy garage punk that owed a huge debt to countrymen like
Hoodoo Gurus and the wilder sound of American acts like
Ty Segall. Their prolific run of singles in the late 2010s led to a bracingly good debut album, 2018's
My Own Mess, which dialed down some of the brattiness and noise as they began to mature a little. By the time of
Rehearsal, the band had left the garage for good and set off for bigger, more polished territory. The record is glossy, punchy rock & roll that delivers the kind of singalong beach punk songs anyone might expect from past efforts. At their best, the band balance dusty road trip-ready rockers like "Valhalla" and rip-roaring rave-ups like "Bush TV" with more tuneful tracks that jangle pleasantly and show a touch more maturity ("Fantasising," "Running from Nothing"). Their scrubbed-down and powered-up, but still plenty scrappy, sound goes down a treat on these tracks. ~ Tim Sendra