Underground Playlists: New Music From Up-And-Comers Nonnie, Leo, Smol Fish & More

Nonnie (SA)
Choice Words

I wrote in this essay a few weeks ago that all the best pop-punk is coming out of Kaurna/Adelaide right now, and Nonnie’s new single does well to back me up on that. Choice Words is their second release for the year – following up on Toybox, which arrived back in March – and it’s a great show of things to come for the fast-rising trio. They balance a razor-sharp hook with choppy and frenetic energy, cymbals gnashing and riffs sprawling out maniacally as frontwoman Lilly Peterson pours her heart into the vocals.

Nonnie are currently chipping away at their third longform effort – the follow-up to last year’s Another Railway Day – and if the punky Choice Words and sticky, Motion City Soundtrack-ish Toybox give us any indication of what to expect, we’re in for a treat and a half. For now, we’ll keep counting down the minutes to the official Choice Words launch show, scheduled for this Thursday (July 13) at The Jade in Kaurna (with Mum Friends, Witch Hunt and Teddy Mars booked to open). Wanna head along? Grab tickets here.

Leo (VIC)
Rough Hands

Despite having just three songs to their name, Leo is fast becoming one of the most exciting acts in Naarm/Melbourne’s ever-burgeoning indie scene. Their formal debut came last January with the slow-searing emo jam Doctor, but in February of this year, the single Half Unconscious showed a different side of the mononymous songster: soft and emotive in their earnest vocal delivery (with suitably heart-wrenching lyrics to match), with crisp and colourful production steering the instrumental.

Right off the bat, Rough Hands throws us out of whack with its big and buoyant pop-rock riff, channelling the spirit of fellow Naarm stalwarts like Alex Lahey and Cry Club (which makes sense – the latter band’s guitarist, Jono Tooke, produced this song). It sounds fun and primed to soar in Leo’s live set, but lyrically it offers more of the spellbinding poignancy we heard on Half Unconscious. Our favourite line of all rings us out: “If I blink three times, say my name in the night, maybe things will turn right.”

Meres (TAS)
Ocean View

In the mood to break some shit? Let up-and-coming lutruwita/Launceston punk outfit Meres (pronounced like pears) soundtrack your carnage: their new single Ocean View absolutely rips, with impassioned riot grrrl yells soaring over a minefield of snarling bass and wailing guitars. The rage is authentic, too, with singer Mary Shannon giving a well-earned middle finger to climate change denialists.

She said in a statement: “This song is fuelled by a sort of ‘exhausted by it all’ anger and feelings of disempowerment, while trying to balance these feelings with the narrative that we are responsible for our own well-being and our own happiness. Who cares if young people don’t have a future? At least the internet and fat cats can remind them that it’s their own fault, even though real change is in the hands of corrupt pollies who couldn’t give a fuck about life beyond their own.”

Spouse (NSW)
Bite Yr Elbow

The first recorded music from Spouse – a four-piece garage-punk band from Ngunnawal and Ngambri land (Canberra) – only hit the web at the start of this month. And yet with just three short, scuzzy demos (the compilation of which can be found, aptly, under the title Demos), they’ve already become one of our favourite acts from the ACT.

The standout of their intro package is Bite Yr Elbow, a sub-minute scorcher that roars to life with a messy, jaunty, party-ready energy that beckons replay after replay. It answers a question I’ve had for a while now: “What if The Chats were good, actually?” But it doesn’t seem to be the best reflection of what Spouse sound like as a whole: their other two demos, Hey Katie and Let Me Down, are grungier and more dynamic, channelling ‘90s indie greats like The Breeders and Pixies.

With such a broad palette on display with their Demos record – spanning less than ten minutes, to boot – we’re dying to getting around a Spouse show IRL.

Smol Fish (WA)
Big Love

Smol Fish are well on track to ruling the sea, and with their latest single, the Boorloo/Perth-based stalwarts make a clear case for why they should be our (and your) Catch Of The Day. Landing as their second new tune for the year (following the release of Conditionally in May), Big Love is noisy and driving and steeped in emotion, speaking to the power of platonic love.

As frontwoman Clancy Davidson said in a statement about it: “I think our biggest loves are platonic loves. I wrote this song at the end of my first long term relationship and a new chapter of my life was opening up. I was thinking about how I wanted to exist in the world on my own and the places in which I could channel love, care and tenderness. The security and loveliness garnered from my friends and family is so special to me. It makes the world a less scary place.”

You can listen to all of our Underground Playlists here.
And submit your own tracks for consideration here.