The Drones - I See Seaweed (2013)

I See Seaweed is the fifth studio album by Australian band The Drones, released in March 2013. The album marked the first appearance of Steve Hesketh on keyboards (hence making the band a quintet) and the last appearance of drummer Mike Noga. Recorded by the band themselves inside a "demountable classroom from the '60s", the music on the album is more dynamic, darker and "expansive" in comparison to previous albums, while Liddiard's poetic lyrics were regarded as being more "universal" and humorous in exploring topics such as climate change, free will, conservative politics, socioeconomic issues, existentialism and the human condition in general. The song "How to See Through Fog" was released as the album's only single in early 2013.

Released independently, the album was co-distributed through Waterfront Records. It received rave reviews from the Australian press, and has been called "a significant moment in Australian rock music, for the stark, beautiful and often menacing way it frames and comments upon a culturally specific moment." It ended up topping over a hundred The Music critics' year-end lists, among many others, also becoming their first to enter the ARIA Charts' top 20. Its reception outside Australia, despite being scant, was highly positive in nature and it would go on to be praised by writers and critics in the years following its release. The album received a number of award nominations, and its tracks have been covered by the likes of Kirin J. Callinan.