Tracklist:

Act Of – I am Fungus
Static Animal – See You Around
Skirts – Brite Boy (Alex G cover)
Space Mountain – Cloud
Alexander – Going To Sleep
German Error Message – Murmuring
Thelma – Take Me To Orlando
Jeffrey Silverstein – Make Yr Peace (And Have It Too)
camp counselor – museum of broken relationships
Spartan Jet-Plex – Stop
Lala Lala & Why? – Siren 042
Shrimpwitch – Leerers
Sir Babygirl – Flirting With Her
Spielbergs – Five On It
Stella Donnelly – Lunch
Mentalease – Avert a Gaze
Priests – The Seduction of Kansas
Mike Pace and The Child Actors – Hazy, Hot & Humid
Swim Camp – Circle K
BURLY – Kent Lame
Miserable chillers – Cider Palace
Imp of Perverse – Tripping Thru a Hallway On Fire
Go Fever – Olivia
Polyan – Dan Song
Morning River Band – Bury Me
Nigel Wright – Overcast
Denmark – I Know
Sister Wanzala – I Went Whaling in My Gap Year
Body Meat – Nairobi Flex
Derek Piotr – Repeating Bloom (Simon Whetham Remix)
Michael Chinworth – Good As It Gets
Mesa Luna – Dispel
yot club – jaded

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Now Gibbon is back with a new Static Animal single, ‘See You Around’. It’s a chilled out pop song that confronts a difficult situation with a gentle effortlessness. Gibbon’s soft vocals are wrapped in Dan Oke’s sparkling guitar and backed with mellotron and subtle percussion, lending a dreamy lilt that gently rocks you away into a world of hazy memories.

The lyrics deal with similar themes, loss as viewed through the fuzzy prism of time passed. “I see you around every now and then,” Gibbon sings, the point of pain located somewhere in the distance. “It’s like you were never really there, you wanted to say goodbye, couldn’t tell the world.”

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Tracklisting:

1. prairie creek redwoods state park, ca – bedbug
2. See the World – Kidsmoke
3. Motion | Sickness – Good Good Blood
4. Downtown – Gabriella Cohen
5. Automatic – Kyle Morton
6. Throwing Roses – Eva Foote
7. vildt+sødt – Eugenia
8. Dicktations Forever – Dicktations
9. Fallen Robin – Wild Leaves
10. Palms – Native Other
11. Not Your Prey – Squirrel Flower
12. Luna – Akira Kosemura
13. Made of Gold – Albert af Ekenstam
14. She Floats – Van-Anh Nguyen
15. Dead Radiance – Ego Death
16. Sponge State – Sløtface
17. Black Mass – Wooden Maria
18. Float – Silver Liz
19. glass machines discovering water – Corvus B.
20. Longshot – The Furious Season
21. The Same Chords – Tiger in My Tank
22. Let’s Go to the Beach – Sophie Longshaw
23. Blue Moon – Many Voices Speak
24. One Footed – MAH KEE OH
25. Country Room – Static Animal
26. The Ground Before Him – Drowning By Numbers
27. Refugee – Cameron James Henderson
28. down (kenny) – ever
29. Strange Tones – Youceff Kabal
30. Don’t Let Love Go By – Golden Suits
31. Sit and Stare – Tiny Dinosaurs
32. Settle Down – Dark Mean
33. telegraph ave. – Betty Becky
34. WEN – glider
35. Nicholas – Holiday Oscar
36. Lyse Striber – True Strength
37. Careless – Stationary Suns
38. Vulnerable – Mark Timmins
39. On & On – Reuben Hollebon
40. Recoiled – William Ryan Fritch
41. Lonely Girl – Praything
42. Drinking the Same Water – Katie Spencer
43. Get It Right – Magana
44. Cheer Up Free Your Mind – Jenny O.

That was October 2016, and if you like what you see/hear, why not check out the other months too?

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Morning Sounds hints at its themes more stylistically than lyrically, what Sports Day Records describe as “the result of anxious thoughts from the middle of the night and in the early hours of the dawn”. However, to my ears, anxiety is not the primary emotion on the release, rather the hazy and vague atmosphere recalls the quiet moments where the world slows down around you and allows some self-reflection. This is enhanced by Static Animal’s use of atmospheric recordings, utilising what the label describe as “found sounds and field recordings from the Melbourne coast” to add depth to their music and “show off how emotion can be captured in small bursts of sound”.

Opening song ‘Runner’ is a fuzzed out kraut-tinged instrumental which soars in its own dark style, while ‘Country Room’ introduces Gibbon’s vocals in what proves to be an understated pop gem, all grooving guitar and dreamy, gauzy vocals which flutter just outside of hearing, allowing your brain to pull the pareidolia effect and conjure words of your own.

The pop theme continues on ‘Hours’, a soft and mumbled number that will regardless get you tapping your feet. ‘Spring Cassette’ sounds like a drive through a winter night, the heater warming your skin as you rush past shadowy snow banks and flurries of icy flakes, all lit by the sodium glow of the sleeping city, while ‘Evergreen’ is a nod to the changing seasons – a slow and sultry track that sounds like a cool pastel sunrise before the heat of the day.

Morning Sounds is being released on super limited cassette by Sports Day Records. You can also get it digitally via the Static Animal Bandcamp page.

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Whomous and Westway bring a slinky little pop number in ‘So Vain’, all auto-tuned vocals and laid back vibes, while Lion Bark’s ‘Poolside’ is a chilled out love song. The feel is continued with Static Animal’s warm-weather instrumental track, ‘Easy, and ‘Carrie’ by London-based songwriter Nicko Franklin, a gentle and kindly pop song. Seattle’s LUWUM bring a little more lo-fi rumble to things, although as garage rock goes its still honey-smooth, before a brand new track from Harley Alexander (a familiar face here at WTD), which closes side A with their trademark suave and summery psychedelics.

Side B see a stylistic shift, with things getting hushed and acoustic and to me even better. First up is ‘No Mistake’ by Fake Laugh (which retains some of the A-side’s saunter), before Arthur Shea gets much more hushed and intimate), Clare Cottrill (which I like a lot – bedroom pop in the vein of Kissing Fractures or the solo Florist stuff) and Girlpool‘s Cleo Tucker (another quiet acoustic track with a metronomic beat).

The final track is ‘Kaleidoscope’ by Arbes, which utilises clattering percussion to enhance a song that falls somewhere between the laid back pop and quiet bedroom acoustics that appear on the compilation as a whole. A fitting end then, to a great showcase. If you’re anything like me then this taster will make you want to dive into the back catalogues of both the featured acts and the label itself. I’m sure there are tonnes of great things to discover.

So as the nights draw in and the air gets a chill, do yourself a favour and keep summer alive in your soul with RELAY. You can get it on cassette or digital download via the Sports Day Records Bandcamp page.

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