Melbourne’s The Great Emu War Casualties operate in the space between addictive, summery indie-rock in the vein of Bloc Party and Two Door Cinema Club but with a flair for leftfield adventurism which leans towards Talking Heads or Everything Everything. Now looking to broaden their horizons, they’re aiming to pick-up traction in the UK and beyond with today’s release of their new EP ‘Permanent Resident’. Listen HERE.
The five-track ‘Permanent Resident’ sees the band moving between genres like they’re crossing invisible walls. Opening ‘Ashes’ is direct to the point, its indie-rock and power-pop hybrid capturing the more immediate side of the band’s sonic spectrum, before ‘Old Dog’ brings a modern touch to Brit-leaning ‘80s synth-pop. ‘Overreacting’ then comes across like one of Foals’ sleek, groove-laden numbers, a style which is also given a breezier tone on the self-effacing ‘Get What You Want’.
Lyrically, the EP’s songs touch upon being locked into patterns of behaviour, recognising your old weaknesses, unrequited love, and the polarisation of news content. What they all possess is that enigmatic and usually illusive knack for being instantly intriguing while remaining wrapped in metaphor and open to personal interpretation.
Vocalist/guitarist Joe Jackson says, “We tried to make something that sounded like we’d finally figured life out. Unfortunately, we hadn’t. It’s either our happiest collection of sad songs to date, or our saddest collection of happy ones. We wanted this record to feel particularly organic, which mostly meant getting into the studio and recording before we’d had time to think about anything.”
‘Permanent Resident’ is completed by a brand new song in the shape of ‘Late Reply’. It’s a melancholy change in tone stepping towards the alt-rock/Americana hybrid of Wilco, structured around a plea of apology.
The EP was written by Joe Jackson and bassist Saskia Clapton, and it was produced by The Great Emu War Casualties and Wayne Connolly (The Teskey Brothers, Julia Jacklin).
While they’re based in Melbourne, the band’s foundations were set in Liverpool where Joe Jackson met Australian bassist Saskia Clapton. The pair briefly relocated to The Netherlands before returning to Saskia’s home city where they teamed up with Nepalesedrummer Bibek Tamang – at the time best known for playing metal – and Cat Sanzaro (vocals, synths).
Named after an incident in which the Australian government deployed the military to drastically reduce the emu population (spoiler: it was a draw), The Great Emu War Casualties called on further influences such as Interpol, Bon Iver, Nothing But Thieves and Egyptiancollective Lekhfa for their far-reaching alt/indie voyages. Their eccentric band name has often been matched by attention-grabbing song titles. See ‘Bacon Rampage!’, ‘Proto-Fascist Aristocrat’ and ‘Boutique Suite In Funky Fitzroy’ for evidence. Primarily playing across Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, they also recently supported The Hold Steady.
