LATE NITE ACCESS - LATE NITE ACCESS E.P.
The CD begins with "Daydream" and sets the ball rolling with a slowly driving rhtyhm from the drums, cascading bass and gently soaring shimmering guitar chords as ther yearning vocal begins. Then the intensity increases as the vocals begin to take off, the drums start to climb and the guitar hears up, sinuously weaving a lead spell as the song crusies along, as fine an indie-rock power ballad as you'll hear on the planet. There's a whole world of feeling in the lyrics as it all leads to an electrifying guitar break, with the whole song climbing ever higher to seriously lofty heights, the sort of impassioned song that really hits the heart, yet at the same time really delivers from an anthemic rock standpoint - the Foo Fighters couldn't do it better than this, and that's probably the closest comparison, too. It's an absolutely brilliant song, superbly played.
Then, almost without a break, a drum beat takes us headlong into the live set opener, "The Money" as the drums power up above which pounding bass and a surging guitar riff drive it all forward, the vocals now seething and soaring at the dsame time before the band crash into the chorus and you're leaping around the room with an insane grin on your face. Instead of dropping back down to the verse, the verse comes up to join them as the trio whip up a furnace heat of anthemic indie rock to take you higher and higher. A wicked guitar lead solos to perfection as the band decelerate, drums and bass produced superbly to great effect as things drop right down before a complete break leads to a whisper - then - BLATTT!!!! - the band takes you even higher than before on a wild sea of driving riffs and solid rhythms, impassioned vocals now flying as the song draws to its conclusion. In concert, this is what takes your breath away from the beginning, as Kim on drums just pounds that kit with her hair swaying all over the show, and when that whisper comes, that second before the band return, she stops the drums, looks right ahead, raises one arm to the skies, then hammers down on that kit to leave you jaw-droped in amazement. This version here is stunning - but in concert, it's even more so.
After this comes "Save Me From Myself", another indie-rock power ballad but here delivered with a searing heat, a burning intensity that you turn right up as loud as you can, and drown in its glories as this huge tidal wave of guitars, drums, bass and vocals engulfs you in its delights, the song surging along, and acts such as Stone Sour, Hoobastank or the Foos could not do it better than this.
Finally, we have the near 7 minute mini-epic inthe form of "Gone", starting with just the impassioned, soaringvocals and surging guitar chords - a bit like Led Zeppelin-meets-Foo Fighters - as occasional drum beats add to the effect, just hinting at the song breaking out. Just short of four minutes, the vocals stop, the guitar chords gather intensity for a few seconds, ther vocals return and at four minutes and forty two seconds, in comes Kim with a staccato drum rhythm that stops your heart as the bass enters, and the song takes off to the skies in this huge mass of heated guitars, strongand streaming rhythm section and this vast expanse of instrumentation as the vocals climb even higher than this to deliver an exceptional song that is just to die for, as it draws to its end and the band drop out for the final three seconds or so of vocals, then it's gone - and all you want to do, is play it again.
Radio friendly world-wide in terms of comercial daytime, indie-rock that sounds as contemporary as anything in its field, this would give the Foos a run for their money and stand proud next to practically any indie-rock band you could mention. As a tour support, they'd have any audience on fire - welcome to the finest indie-rock trio Australia has produced to date! (I told you it was a bit outside of Dundee!!)