Full Ugly - Spent the Afternoon (2014) Lossless

Full Ugly is primarily a vehicle for the songwriting of one Melbourne native, Nathan Burgess. Thomas Mendelovits, of long-time Melbourne outfit Milk Teddy, joined after seeing Nathan play an acoustic set with lead guitarist and old school mate Michael Caterer (Scott & Charlene’s Wedding, Love Connection). After a few three-piece shows, Zach Schneider (Great Outdoors, Totally Mild) approached the band and offered to round out the line-up as a four-piece, affording Burgess’s almost naïve country-rock sensibility a more exploratory feel. Today, Nathan McFarlane provides lead guitar since Caterer’s relocation to New York with Scott & Charlene’s Wedding.

Spent the Afternoon was recorded and mixed by Jack Farley (Twerps, Panel of Judges, Beaches) at Transient Studios mid-2011, prior to Caterer’s move to New York. Farley’s naturalistic approach suited the band well and the album was finished quickly and with little fuss. It is a product completely of and for Melbourne; those trademark sunlit guitars shine over a slow and comfortable groove, life is documented in a way that allows true insight into the flourishing music scene in which Full Ugly now find themselves at the fore.

The album was mastered by Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring, countless others), and beyond being a great document of contemporary Australian music, also happens to make for some truly rewarding listening. It is a disarming record, sincere and shabbily endearing. Melodies lope along toward a greater destination, a summer breeze runs through the studio and is captured in the rhythm of these songs. And when all is said and done, the sound of Full Ugly is left hanging in the air, a comforting look over the shoulder.
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Signed to Fire in the UK, Full Ugly represents yet more slacker pop from Australian label Bedroom Suck, this time showcasing the work of Melbournite Nathan Burgess. His music has the same shambling rhythms and careworn vocals as Scott and Charlene’s Wedding, the product of sunnier climes where, in the words of the Triffids, it’s “too hot to move, too hot to think”. Instead, Full Ugly’s songs amble and lope, losing themselves in melodies and meandering guitar riffs. ‘Summer Time’ has a hazy, melancholic air and ‘Mt. Barker’ is an elegaic twang-fest, while the hook-hung ‘Hilly Street’ is chiming, jangly guitar pop. While the songs are about development (“the cold ladder of growing up”), and some of the lyrics still need development themselves, Burgess has a fully-formed feel for melody, which gives these songs a memorable quality, especially if you’re listening in a “relaxed” state of mind.