Meanjin/Brisbane indie poppers Dumb Things offered the first taste of their forthcoming album Self Help with the title track back in November. “Influenced by the droll poetic style of David Berman,” we wrote, “it’s a slice of breezy, dusty pop with a streak of yearning melancholy, the narrator looking to self-improvement as a remedy to past mistakes.” Dumb Things make sun-bleached pop at its best, blending thoughtful and carefree sensibilities in a reflection the quintet’s collaborative approach. Adam Vincent (guitar/vocals), Madeleine Keinonen (guitar/vocals), James Southey (guitar/vocals), Andrew Robinson (bass) and Patrick Hill (drums) pass ideas around freely, and the result feels like something which could only have come from friends.
With the album on the horizon, latest single ‘Instant Coffee’ provides another glimpse inside, offering a slightly different dimension to the Dumb Things sound. With Keinonen taking lead vocal duties, the track possesses a slightly darker tone, tapping into the small melancholy of mundane details as performed in solitude. “I fill the kettle with water to dilute the time / Weather system forming in the kitchen,” as the song opens. “If I was a smoking man I’d spend all the dry season / Blowing storm clouds at the ceiling.” But as the track develops, the picture is revealed to be a little more nuanced. A certain conviction reached by the crescendo that might not be happiness or even acceptance, but it is something all the same.