ET Recommends - 38: Songs

Yep, Songs.

Um, their debut album - due out in November - is quite honestly the greatest record I've heard all year. Full stop, end of story. It might well be the greatest record I've heard this decade but a) it's still not a competition, and b) my memory does play tricks on me, and c) I'm not even sure whether I've even heard any other records this decade.

I wrote a review of it for The Vine, but that's not up yet and I don't want to detract from it here. Can it suffice to say that it's gorgeous, echo-drenched, guitar-saturated pop that reminds me of...Bangs, I don't know...Electrelane, The Bats, Television, John Cale, Galaxie 500, Straitjacket Fits, Sonic Youth, Beaches, Spacemen 3...but still most resolutely retains its own identity and sound. Make no mistake here, this Sydney four-piece have remembered Billy Childish's 3 Rules Of Pop - the performance, the sound and the song. Not for them experimentation without direction, or direction without experimentation, or one long beautiful drawn-out guitar drone that doesn't have a middle, an end, a beginning, more middle, more middle and more middle. I swear to Bangs that this is the finest...

Oh wait, I've already stated that.

I did toy with a series of equations before I finalised my review format, something along the lines of a very rudimentary guide to The Legend!'s listening habits in Australia. Please feel free to suggest bands I will have certainly omitted. The first draft goes like this -

Melbourne = Beaches, Super Wild Horses, The Drones, Witch Hats
Sydney = Songs, Bridezilla
Brisbane = The Deadnotes, Kitchen's Floor, No Anchor

I'm still kicking myself for turning down Chris from Popfrenzy's invitation to see Songs play down the Valley a month back. What was up with that? I guess it still rubs me the wrong way when folk tell me that I'd simply love a band (c.f. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart). Damn it.