Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Albums of the Year # 30 Possible Humans - Everybody Split

From April:


There are some things so reliable that you could set your watch by them. One of these things nowadays is that there'll be another great Melbourne guitar band along any moment that you've never heard of. Tangible proof of this maxim arrives in the shape of the debut album from Possible Humans, Everybody Split, released on April Fool's Day.


The record is an absolute treat from start to finish. Distinctly Antipodean and full of pleasant reminders of greats of the past from that region such as The Go-Betweens, The Triffids and The Clean. This is esteemed company to even mention any young band in the same breath as but in the case of Possible Humans it's entirely deserved.


Intense but focused, driven by melodic, chiming guitars and probably dark thought processes, Everybody Split rattles throughout with driven conviction. Brought to my attention, as so much great stuff is, by the Did Not Chart blog listed on the right hand side of this page, I'm enormously grateful. The writer there rightly notes the resemblance to Melbourne contemporaries Rolling Coastal Blackouts Fever.


It's an undeniable and immediate comparison point. Where the two bands differ is probably in terms of Possible Humans distinctly darker dispositions both lyrically and melodically. They're somewhat tortured by comparison. As a result they also sounded somewhat late Seventies rather than Eighties to me, with some of the wired angst of Television, Wire, The Saints, Magazine and their ilk. 


Everybody Split seems on first listening like it'll be a record that will stay with me and I'll return to consistently. I suspect it'll feature in my end of year album countdown. That's a couple of seasons down the line however, in the meantime I commend it to you here.


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