Perth - What's Your Utopia? (2013)

“Australian experimental pop outfit perth deliver their sophomore album What’s Your Utopia?. The band have managed to meld psychedelic pop, folk-laced electronica and shoegaze into a beautifully cohesive statement – a tribute to the idea of a fond place, or utopia, quietly residing in ‘no place’, beyond ourselves. The band’s magic lies in their ability to refract the individual members’ unique sensibilities through an experimental lens; kaleidoscopic sound design is matched by the band’s songwriting dexterity throughout the album’s nine tracks.

Single and opening salvo ‘Drank and Kites and Tomorrow’ summons forth glowing brass arrangements, reverb-drenched vocals and skittering breakbeats crafted from found sounds, building into a krautrock jam reminiscent of Neu! and Caribou. The gorgeous ‘Saw Promenade’ reimagines the shimmering vibes of prime Tortoise on an Australian beach, while ‘Greasy Moon’ is an echoing, disorientating, addictive stomp. Finale ‘Viewmaster’ mutates from brittle, spectral space-folk into a heartbreaking robot waltz, before dissolving then regrouping into a delirious droning coda.