Album Review: Running Gun Sound - Friends

This second album from Brisbane outfit Running Gun Sound (formerly Running Guns) is something of a farewell for the band as well, with chief songwriter Michael Fletcher decamping to Berlin for a seachange immediately following the album launches. The fact that all five members of the band are also in Velociraptor is a handy calling card for the band, but probably confuses the issue from a sonic perspective as RGS deal in music quite far removed from the carefree garage indie of the 'Raptors. Instead what's found is here is confident indie rock'n'roll, rooted firmly in the '80s and beyond rather than the '60s.

Opener, Just You See, is a shakily bouncy statement of intent, tipping its hat to the 'Raptors with lyrics about “doing the ruby”, while following track, I Don't Want To Know – penned by guitarist James Boyd – has the same laconic charm of early Strokes but with a distinctly Aussie bent. Omar is a change-up – off-kilter and vaguely melancholy – but still rife with hooks and some great keys lines. Local wunderkind Jeremy Neale drums for RGS but you can't help but feel his pop nous all through tracks like Good Friend and Fight Time Winner, everything's so breezy and upbeat. Obscure pop bands such as Orange Juice were apparently the album's sonic touchstones, yet the result isn't miles away from the sound of recent indie garage bands like The Soft Pack, loose and accessible but somehow ragged at the same time.

Friends is an assured collection of rock songs, and if it does end up being Running Gun Sound's epitaph at least all involved can take solace in the strength of this parting salvo.