But amid the bleak, deadened mood stirs something else. A tension that promises to escalate into something oddly anthemic. The sharp insistence of the guitars and the blare of trumpet only accentuates this mood, and the vocals rise to an impassioned cry in the repeated line that serves for a chorus. “It’s a crisis that I’m going through!” Nowhere is this more apparent than in the shredding final third, where the tension breaks and Equal Parts show off a noisier, cathartic side, all tangled guitars and crashing drums. It’s nothing if not a striking opening statement, and we can’t wait to see what the band do next.

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At first glance, Mug are a world away from the angular and hectic post-punk stylings of Gamjee, crafting a lush and minimalist sound that draws on arty European electronic pop like Stereolab and Australia’s fertile 80s underground scene. But on closer inspection there are more similarities between the projects than you may think. The volume and energy may be dialled down a few notches, but the idiosyncrasies remain.

Indeed, as the band describe in an interview with Trouble Juice, single ‘Brace Yourself’, began life as a fast-paced punk song, before being pulled slowly into the syrupy, vibe-led sound that Mug have committed to. Built on a skeleton of drum machine and floaty synths, the serene atmosphere is grounded with a knotted tangle of electronics and subtle guitar work that feels like a whispered version of Gamjee’s restless unpredictability.

Opener ‘Loving the Body’ is a typically gentle start, soft pulsing synths like a pillow upon which Lily Harding’s vocals sit. As is the case across the EP, the overall atmosphere is one of tranquillity, although occasional noodling guitars foreshadow the record’s more eccentric moments, a reminder that these are far more than conventional pop songs. ‘An Unsettling Dream’ is as otherworldly as its title suggests, mundane anxieties colliding with a slippery surreal night-time logic as synths loop and bass trundles, while ‘From the Lookout’ has a weird clockwork quality, advancing in jerky rhythms like a stop-motion animation.

‘Sometimes’ embraces Mug’s folkier side, combining acoustic guitar with a panoply of electronic buzzes and blips and whirs, before closer ‘Coffee at Your House’ recalls the blissful grace of Au Revoir Simone. But despite the warm fuzzy atmosphere, it is the moment on the record in which the sense of isolation aches most keenly. The whole thing glistens with yearning, a bittersweet feeling of appreciating loved ones and accepting being cut off from them, at least for now. “I want to come around and sing with you,” Harding sings, “But I know we’re not there, not yet.”

Mug is out now on Tiny Town Records and you can get it from the Mug Bandcamp page.

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Now the band have returned with a new double A-side single, The More I Am / Overflowing Cup on Tiny Town Records, which they say again sets out to “explore narratives of ingrained cultural views, personal doubt, and self reflection.” But despite these thematic similarities, the new songs take a slightly different lyrical approach, dialling back the autobiographical nature of previous work in favour of sentiments more general though no less pressing.

The more upbeat of the two, ‘The More I Am’ feels like a contemporary reimagining of Flying Nun era New Zealand jangle pop. The song follows its narrator’s journey from vindictive cynicism to sincerity and empathy, its driving beat, wiry guitars and the distinctive vocals of lead Louis Parsons making for something genuinely stirring.

Backed with plaintive harmonica, ‘Overflowing Cup’ takes a more introspective angle, building from gentle guitar into a shuffling indie rock song. “Perspectives and opinions
have obscured my view, ” begins Parsons, singing from a position of mock close-mindedness. “As I look through my window I can only see half of what I used to.” It’s a sense of irony you might expect to find on a blazing punk song, but which Floodlights handle with a cutting composure and clarity, even as the energy grows toward the finale.

The single come complete with a video by Melbourne filmmaking collective Dogmilk Films, which sees the metaphor of the album’s title manifest as a bubbling green ooze. Watch it below:

The More I Am / Overflowing Cup is out now via Tiny Town Records. Get it on 7″ record or as a download from the Floodlights Bandcamp page.

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