EP PREMIERE: Sons Of Rico - Cool Change

Prepare your ears for some glorious pop goodness from Melbourne (via Perth) faves Sons Of Rico, 'coz we at The Music have our mitts on their brand new EP, Cool Change, and are stoked to share it with you today.

From the upbeat feelgoodery of opening cut What Am I Doing Here? and casual-cool strut of Struth to We Should Do This Thing Together's airy vibes and synth-lined throwback glory of its title track — not to mention the danceable and anthemic Twice Shy and the bittersweet hug of closing effort Let Me Go — the EP is six tracks of non-stop retro glee.

It boasts vintage sounds galore, turkey-neckin' grooves, sweet guitar solos and some seriously impressive vocal work from central songwriter Alex MacRae, all of which amounts to a wonderfully infectious journey that you'll want to undertake over and over again.

The EP follows quite a tumultuous time in the band's career, with the band having undergone "relocations, line-up changes and the usual existential crisis or two" since the release of 2013's well-received second studio full-length, In Rico Glaciers.

MacRae is in arguably his finest ever form these days, though, so in some ways enduring such roughness was likely essential to finding the faculties to craft so smooth and polished a follow-up.

The formerly Perth-based musician has drawn on his personal experiences to craft deeply relatable fictional narratives for this collection of songs, which mark a truly noteworthy evolution in the band's seven-year-long history.

MacRae and his collaborators already played a launch show for the EP last month — and sold it out, no less — but will be back on stage soon enough: they play The Gasometer on Thursday 31 August with Ferla and Gumboot. So, if you're around old Melbourne town and looking for somewhere to be, that gig is pretty much guaranteed to be as good a time as you'll find.

See theGuide for more details.