Album Review: Big Scary - Not Art

Anticipation for the second album from Melbourne duo Big Scary has been building for a while now – well, basically since their excellent debut Vacation dropped in 2011. It's an anomaly – usually, two years in the music industry is not usually regarded as a long time, with bands and artists often taking twice that long to produce their 'difficult' second record. However, it (unfairly) seems that Big Scary should've produced another album before now.

But Not Art is worth the wait. The duo – Tom Iansek and Jo Syme – have thrown everything they have to create 11 tracks' worth of the oft-beautiful, considered and minimalist music that Vacation hinted towards. It's weird that lead single Phil Collins, which has been doing the radio rounds recently, was seen as a change in direction for the band, when much of Vacation harboured the same lonely, haunting sound.

That track is a window into the overall design of Not Art, with the majority of the record displaying much of the same aural texture of that song. The addition of guest bassists Ted O'Neil (The Vasco Era) and Graham Ritchie (Emma Louise) on various songs works to the album's advantage, but Iansek's own production has a distinct vision – one that is not sidetracked by the potential directions that Not Art could have taken.

Apparently hip hop has been noted as a major influence, although – at least after the first few listens – it's difficult to see where that genre fits in on the album. Some of the drums recall DJ Shadow, but more often Big Scary blaze their own trail, and it works well for them.