OZ PREMIERE: Prism Tats - Prism Tats

South Africa-bred, LA-based musician Garrett van der Spek — aka Prism Tats — releases his self-titled debut album today on ANTI- Records. It's the product of some serious self-sacrifice and hard work, and The Music is stoked to be hosting its Australian premiere today.

Uprooting his life in Durban, South Africa, to move to Seattle for a university exchange program, van der Spek focused his attentions on his efforts as Prism Tats amid working as a demolition man to fund trips between Seattle and LA, having found love during the exchange program. (Aw, that's a bit sweet.)

If the story's surprising, the end result is downright astonishing; having built up a repertoire of songs and crafted a debut full-length, van der Spek makes great use of minimal tools to craft open and wandering yet keenly focused soundscapes, our reviewer noting that the man "embodies the outsider assimilating the only way he knows how".

There's emotionality here as much as abandon; ferocity as much as restraint. It's 10 tracks of straight-up, honest-to-goodness psych'n'roll, a meandering river of disparate rock influences — garage, blues, minimalist and beyond — right through to the fuzzed-out amble of closing lament Know It All. It's an exciting first effort from an emergent artist, and definitely worthy of your attention.

Get amongst the album above, and keep on top of Prism Tats' upcoming movements and projects at his Facebook page.

Prism Tats is out now via ANTI-.