Melburnian indie-rock mainstays Skipping Girl Vinegar have understandably taken a few years to complete work on the follow-up to their acclaimed 2011 second album Keep Calm Carry The Monkey but, if our exclusive stream of the band's forthcoming third effort The Great Wave is any indication, they've made it worth the wait.
The five-piece will be officially launching the album at their Bluesfest performance early next month, in addition to an impending video clip to commemorate the forthcoming first release from the record.
"The last two years have seen us travel from the heights of radio and agents, opening up for bands in the US to the crashing heartbreak of my wife being diagnosed with ovarian cancer," Skipping Girl Vinegar frontman Mark Lang explained of the album's creation in a statement. "We put the record and everything else on hold, went to ground and focused all our love and energy onto her and, thankfully, we are one of the fortunate ones.
"What I valued and prioritised previously had now shifted, affecting the very core of how I wanted to communicate through music."
The band conscripted legendary US producer Brad Jones (Josh Rouse, Missy Higgins) to make the journey from America to Australia especially to work on the album after hearing its demos, his evident enthusiasm for the band's music seeing him dive "right into the experience".
"His guidance and belief in the project helped take us into deeper waters, creating the most emotionally direct album of our career," Lang said.
Don't take his (or our) word for it, though — hit the 'Play' button above and treat your ears to the eagerly awaited third album from one of the country's finest indie-rock outfits.
See a trailer for the album launch below.
