Chook Race

Melbourne's Chook Race follows up a string of solid singles and tapes with an album that outstrips them all. Finding the stride in their punk meets suburban shamble-pop, the band is striking the same nervy yet pastoral notes that fellow countrymen Boomgates seem so adept at. About Time finds the band flirting with chugging, muscular twang, the kind that you can feel in your teeth, really mull over and spit out. The bass chugs throughout, straight like a train without tiring and, as with so many of their peers in this new branch of the jangled jungle, they nail it down with nasal vox that add just the right bit of edge to the proceedings. Here those are balanced out with a soft counterpoint of female vocals and a push/pull between post-punk tautness and breezy moments that give the record a very early American indie feeling. There's a sense that this could be slotted in alongside some early Yo La Tengo and not feel all that out of place. Repeated listens open the record up further, full of slashing ennui and a tumultuous emotional core. The band is self-released, but if they keep churning out material like this, that may not stay the case for long.

Listen:


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