Floodlights are a band from Melbourne who came onto our radar early this year when we heard their debut EP, Backyard. Describing it as “rough and ready indie rock with a decidedly Aussie country twang,” we were taken with the record’s ability to achieve real thematic complexity despite its short runtime, “confront[ing] difficult questions of national identity in a land of cultural genocide.”
After the success of Backyard, Floodlights (Louis Parsons, Ashlee Kehoe, Joe Draffen and Archie Shannon) headed to Head Gap Studios in Melbourne with Nao Anzai to record their debut full-length, From a View. Again released with Spunk! Records, the album takes the successful Backyard formula and expands it across eleven tracks, giving Floodlights license to delve a little deeper into their favourite topics. The result is a record with a focus on both the national and personal, grappling with historical violence and abuses of political power, as well as the importance of self-expression and having the conviction and bravery to be yourself.
But From a View is never as heavy as that might sound. Although never straying into the knowingly numb-skulled pub rock of some Aussie contemporaries, Floodlights still know how to rock out, even when dealing out difficult home truths. Poisonous irony oozes from every pore of ‘Tropical Fun’, which details entitled Australians unleashed on the streets of Indonesia. “Pampered like royalty, and why shouldn’t we be?” Parsons sings. “They should be thanking us for fuelling their economy,” part of an Aussie tide “Boozing through the sun, polluting the air / with a mongrelised ‘thank you’ in the mother tongue.”
Another example is ‘Don’t Pick That Scratch’, which confronts Australia’s blinkered view of its colonialist past and present. “[It’s] a look at the amnesia of certain aspects of Australian history,” Kehoe tells Pilerats. “Reflecting upon cycles of fear, feelings of entitlement and the racist beliefs that can sit hidden in the underbelly of both individuals and a national culture as a whole.” ‘Matter of Time’ is similarly scathing, a song about politicians and people of power and how the richest countries in the world seem intent on speeding headlong into ruin.
They’re all howling
But it’s all just a matter of time for you
It’s all broken
But it’s all just a matter of time for you
Other songs have an even more personal focus. In what feels like a follow up to Backyard‘s ‘Nullarbor’, opener ‘Water’s Edge’ is inspired by a trip Parsons and Kehoe took across Western Australia, focusing on the wisdom accrued along the way. It begins laid back and contemplative, harmonica adding to the “Australiana” vibes, but builds a sense of forward motion as it advances, ending on a note of evocative feeling as Parsons sings the repeated final line.
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‘Thanks For Understanding’ sees two people growing apart (“Something deep within my boot itches / but it can’t be scratched by you”), while closer ‘Happiness’ stresses the importance of having conviction in what you want to do, how you want to live your life. In a similar vein, ‘Proud and Well’ feels like a defiant statement of legitimacy, something that feels particularly important in our society that defines success in the absurd and arbitrary measurement of capital rather than personal contentment. As Parsons puts it to Pilerats, “Regardless of how late you discover your passions or how long it takes you to get there, you should find confidence and pride in being yourself. ”
Indecision, what fad today?
Condescending peers who’ve long found their way
There’s no shame in that, and I never said there was
So you can fuck off right off, and I’ll stay right here
‘Cause I’m happy with my life, and I’m proud of what I do
And I’ll keep not knowing, ’cause that what keeps me true
Yeah, that’s what keeps me true
From a View is out now via Spunk Records in Australia and New Zealand. If you live in the UK/EU, you can pre-order via Rough Trade or Resident Music. Of course, the album is also available from the Floodlights Bandcamp page.
