Shrapnel Sedan Crater LP
Garage-tinged psych-pop from Sydney’s SHRAPNEL, with a dense, maximalist vision (there’s seventeen songs on this thing!) that’s articulated with an aura of in-the-red, blown-out fuzz still signifying “lo-fi” in spite of how full and sharp the production actually is. Opener “Catch You Out” immediately brings to mind the swirling, lysergic kaleidoscope world of the OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL, if only they’d been more obsessed with the SOFT BOYS than the BEACH BOYS, as the soaring, roughed-up British Invasion hooks in “Fountains of Ute” and “Taking Hold” likewise cast straight back to ’90s-era home-recorded wall-of-sound eccentrics from GUIDED BY VOICES to the MOLES to the APPLES IN STEREO. There’s so much other ground covered here, though—“Ice Cream,” “Pickup Sticks,” and “Miller’s Daughter” have a more contemporary OZ DIY sensibility, recalling the arch, jangly, and sarcastically named 2010s dolewave micro-scene centered around bands like DICK DIVER, CHOOK RACE, TWERPS, etc., while the synth-laced, shimmering power pop of “Turning the Knife” suggests Ork Records-era CHRIS STAMEY fronting GAME THEORY, and might just be the best song on the whole LP. If any of the (admittedly not standard MRR) references in this review push even one of your buttons, give this a go.