PREMIERE: Big Heavy Stuff - 'XY Chromosome' And 'Scars'

Beloved Australian indie rock band Big Heavy Stuff have a surprise for fans, premiering two previously unreleased songs from their forthcoming album, Bruises, exclusively on The Music.

• The Official Biography Of Big Heavy Stuff: Part One

XY Chromosome and Scars are the band's first “new” songs since disbanding in 2005. They will appear on the band’s upcoming album. Newly mixed and mastered by Wayne Connolly, the songs are from the 30th anniversary edition of their 1995 Covered In Bruises EP. Next month, the EP will arrive as an expanded release with new and previously unreleased tracks.

• The Official Biography Of Big Heavy Stuff: Part Two

Set for release on Friday, 20 June, Big Heavy Stuff have given fans a taste of what’s to come with the two tracks premiering on The Music today. The release of XY Chromosome and Scars follows the double single released from the album, including the 2025 remix of Birthday and an early take of Hibernate, originally recorded in 1997.

Big Heavy Stuff’s Nick Kennedy says of XY Chromosome, “XY Chromosome was recorded in the sessions for our 1997 album Maximum Sincere. We tracked a LOT of material for that record, and the stuff we released back then was largely dark in tone.

“This song was fun, if not altogether light. One take – done. And I think you can hear the joy in just grooving to the backbeat. It’s also the first proper unreleased ‘new’ track we’ve released since we split in 2005. More to come…”

On Scars, Kennedy added, “This song existed in a much edited and lo-fi form at the end of the original ‘Covered In Bruises’ EP, and it bugged me since then that we never finished it despite knowing we’d recorded it as a band.

“The melody followed me for 30 years until the opportunity finally arose to revisit our multi-track tapes and make something of it. It still works best as a kind of epilogue (which it does on the new ‘Bruises’ double LP), but I still love its earworm quality.”

You can check out both tracks, premiering exclusively on The Music, below.

You can pre-order/pre-save Bruises via Love As Fiction Records, Redeye Records Sydney and selected record stores.