There's a party in Sydney, and everyone's wearing their hearts on their sleeves
We're a few weeks in now to our new discovery series This One Time, On Bandcamp; we hope you're enjoying the ride so far! Whether in a band or just a fan, feel free to send us submissions to listen to as potential candidates for future installments — we're always on the lookout to keep this as broad as possible, but we're only a few people so it's not like we couldn't use the help.
With that aside, let's take a trip back to Sydney for week four…
Bands that make way more noise than their membership suggests they should be able to just plain warm our hearts, and Sydney's own 'sad and loud and angry and party DIY emo punx' duo H A N N A H B A N D are an absolute shoe-in on those grounds alone. But it's not just that attribute that makes this two-piece turn out heads; frequently rambunctious, persistently aggressive and yet often introspective and inescapably infectious, the pairing of Marnie Vaughn (drums/vocals) and Nathan Martin (guitar/vocals) trade in evocative lyricism and pop-tinged angst-rock presented with enough rawness, scuff marks and sincerity as to not feel cynical.
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Their songs themselves traverse an impressive range of soundscapes, once again partially due to their limited roster; Vaughn and Martin pull so much from so little, and wear it so openly, that it's difficult not to let your guard down and give yourself fully over to the saddest, most confessional party in town.
It's a good time to join said party, too, with the band soon to release their third full-length album, Quitting Will Improve Your Health (great title). It follows 2014's outstanding Retirement, and if the recent taste provided by new track 29er is any indication, it stands to be a most worthy successor. The song boasts an ever-so-slight refinement of the pop sensibility that has been present throughout the band's discography to date, shaking off the lurching discord of its introduction to break into a driven, jangly, shouty earworm that leaves us in anticipation for the rest of the record.
H A N N A H B A N D are currently touring New Zealand, but be sure to keep an eye out on their Facebook page and Bandcamp for the impending release of Quitting Will Improve Your Health and any touring activities that follow its arrival.
Quitting Will Improve Your Health - LP, 2016 (No purchase link yet available, but 29er available here)
Got an independent band? Got a Bandcamp page (because the title really doesn't work without it)?
Let us know if you want us to listen to your tunes, and you might get featured in a future edition of This One Time, On Bandcamp!