Kovacevich describes Heavun as “some corny ass songs I wrote about dying”. It seems he left out the part that said that these corny ass songs are also really good. The overall mood is a little more poppy this time around, falling somewhere in the region of Cloud Nothings and You Won’t. Tracks such as opener Kids Will Be Kids, and Mary, retain the earnest tenderness of previous releases, but also have a bounce, an injection of indie rock toe-tapping rhythms. All these factors considered, the end result is something rather glorious.

Fans of Praything’s previous releases can rest assured that is is also pretty great. Fans of indie pop acts such as Yellow Ostrich, Tokyo Police Club and Born Ruffians would do well to check this out too.

You can buy the EP right now on a pay-what-you-want basis over at Praything’s Bandcamp page.

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Back in July they released their debut album, Bonfire Etiquette, on Eternal Bummer Records. The album is a lot of fun, ten slices of reckless indie pop, perfect for summer road trips or get-togethers or whatever (yes I realise am late to the party, you’ll have to wait until next year). Frontman Geoff Baillie says that the album deals with the “carelessness, fear, confusion and spontaneity” of being young.

Preconceptions about this style of music may lead you to expect short sharp songs with simple catchy words, however the lyrics are surprisingly wordy, not verbose but detailed, poetic, something more than a series of shout-a-long choruses. For example, in opener ‘Sunday Nights To Infinity’ Baillie sings:

’With naive melody lamps that decorate the bedroom
We stripped all of the linens tracing a loose thread
If you love me till I’m dead I’ll haunt the bedroom with you
Make ourselves out to be ghosts with sheets around our heads’

The poetic theme continues throughout. The latest single from the album is called ‘Crown Victoria’ (which you can listen to exclusively in the player below), a track which was inspired by Bushfire, a poem by Philip Salom about the Victorian Alpine Fires, a series of bush fires that swept through the state of Victoria, southeast Australia, back in 2003. You can read the poem courtesy of the Australian Poetry Library here.

It is a really interesting direction to take, one that again shows the band are commited to highlighting youth as more than a superficial blend of fun and hormones. There is a depth here, an addressing of the thoughts of the young, the paradoxical concurrence of invincibility and fragility, the ticking of a clock on what appears to be a timeless scene.

’We feel like we are glorious
We drive a Crown Victoria
I’ll be your hands if you’re my eyes
And keep watching the mirrors while I drive
Unless we are stricken in a thickened haze
That’s challenging us to remain
And pressures on to break us down
Now I might be a liar but I’ll say
That we just can’t be defeated’

When looking back at our younger years the simplicity of it all is an abiding memory, a lack of commitments or responsibilities that allow for a degree of brashness. Reality, of course, is very different from our rose -tinted memories, and while we were allowed a carelessness or a selfish sense of exploration, the whole gamut of emotions were still present, with fear and confusion prevailing factors, just as Baillie describes in the album. Amity Beach show that representations of youth do not have to be simple.

If you like what you hear then you can get Bonfire Etiquette via the Amity Beach Bandcamp on a pay-what-you-can basis, as well as picking up a physical copy via the merch page.

The band also performed a studio session over at Southern Souls earlier in the year, check it out here.

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Earth Person – Summer Recordings

(RIYL – Experimental, New Age Ideologies, Peace)

Eat Your Birthday Cake – For Alex (Single)

(RIYL – Indie Rock, Friendship, The Eels)

Eef Barzelay – Songs We Made: Part One

(RIYL – Clem Snide, Will Johnson, John Vanderslice)

Elvis Depressedly – Mickey’s Dead

(RIYL – Bedroom Pop, Coma Cinema, The ill will of the world)

Flight Tonight – Flight Tonight

(RIYL – Post-Dubstep, R&B, Mount Kimbie, Jamie XX)

Fog Lake – inference (iii)

(RIYL – Bedroom Pop, Coma Cinema, Youth Lagoon)

Ghibli – Rare Pleasures

(RIYL – Experimental, Dance, Samples)

Gorgeous Bully – The Young Obese

(RIYL – DIY Rock, Fluffy Lumbers, ARMS)

GSJF –MONDAYMARCH26TH2012

(RIYL – Graham Wright,Spencer MacEachren and the Fabulous Yawn, Travelling Willburys)

Hanetration – Tenth Oar EP / Torn Heat EP

(RIYL – Ambient, Electronic, Drone, IDM)

Hazy Memories – Out Of Place EP

(RIYL – Hip Hop, Electronic, Ambient, Spoken Word)

High Pop – Hip Hip Hooray

(RIYL – Garage Rock, fuzz, Wavves)

Ice Dragon – Dream Dragon

(RIYL – Psychedelic, Doom, Rock).

Jacob Augustine – Bikini Island

(RIYL – David Bazan, Shearwater, Bon Iver)

Jake Klar – Jake Klar

(RIYL – Bob Dylan, Joe Pug, Tallest Man On Earth)

Jeannot – Turner Street EP

(RIYL – Folk, young summers, nostalgia)

Jonny Kates – Groombridge

(RIYL – Ambient, drone, Tim Hecker, Loscil)

Kissed Her Little Sister – Sailor

(RIYL – Lo-Fi, Indie pop, Throw Me The Statue, ARMS, Why?)

The post Favourite Free Music of 2012 (E – K) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The release is free from Bandcamp so enjoy!

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Buy the album now from Barsuk Records or the band themselves, and if you’re unfamiliar with Yellow Ostrich’s previous work, check out their bandcamp page.

The post Yellow Ostrich – Strange Lands appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Graham Wright, the keyboard player from Tokyo Police Club, has been working on solo stuff for a number of years. 2008’s ‘The Lakes of Alberta’ is a masterful piece of songwriting, one of my favourite ever EPs (if people have such things) and definitely one of the best things kindly given away free on Bandcamp (D/L links available below). The age old story of spurned love, hotel rooms and second chances may sound trite but Graham pulls it off with apparent ease, creating beautiful folk songs that tell a story that seems to have been in development for years before you put your headphones on.

Graham Wright’s debut album, ’Shirts Vs Skins‘ is due to be released on June 28th. You can listen to 3 of the songs from it on his Facebook page. It seems like a departure from his sound on ‘The Lakes of Alberta’ but very promising nonetheless!

Shirts Vs Skins – Coming June 28th!

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