After a couple of EPs where they worked on finding their feet as a band, the Australian quintet
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever nailed it on their first album, 2018's
Hope Downs. Their three-guitar attack was honed to a fine point, the songwriting suddenly popped like formerly plugged-up ears in a descending aircraft, and their sound had all the mystery of early
R.E.M. paired with the power of
the Church at their rockiest. The record would have been top of the class during the golden age of '80s jangle pop, and it shone like a glittering diamond in the murky era of chillgaze and stoned psychedelia it was surrounded by in its own time. The band must have realized they had hit on something extraordinary because on 2020's
Sideways to New Italy, they don't change the formula much. The songs on the record are all just as memorable and sneakily moving as those on
Hope Downs, again led by the jangling, biting, telepathically intertwined guitars and driven by the agile and rock-solid backline, while the revolving vocalists do their best to recall the ghost of
Grant McLennan. There are some changes here and there like the occasional piano or spoken word section -- and
Rolling Blackouts do stretch out musically occasionally like on the wistful ballad "Sunglasses at the Wedding" -- but really the album feels less like a sequel to their breakthrough and more like a second part. One that's just as satisfying and home to songs that rival the best moments found on
Hope Downs.
"The Second of the First" is a wonderfully energetic album opener complete with biting fuzz guitar, a soaring chorus, and snappy production; "The Cool Change" has all the swagger of a college rock radio hit; "Cars in Space" sports lovely vocal harmonies, proggy guitar lines, and a little saxophone buried in the mix; and "Cameo" is a hauntingly pretty mid-tempo track that feels like classic
Go-Betweens, only with the kind of immediate and clear production values their albums rarely were afforded. Indeed, the entire record sounds great. High marks to the band for their work on getting a sound that allows the many guitars to occupy their own space and not become a muddy mess. Some might complain that the group stuck too firmly to their established sound on
Sideways; obviously those listeners are not subscribers to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of thought and hopefully will realize after a spin or two that not only do the songs and performances team up to replicate the glory of the band's debut, nothing comes within a mile of ever sounding stale or feeling even the least bit repetitive. In fact, the album is another strong point in the case that
Rolling Blackouts are making the best guitar pop anywhere in 2020. ~ Tim Sendra