Album Review: The John Steel Singers - Midnight At The Plutonium

The triple j darlings and Aussie music festival stalwarts are back with their third LP, a follow-up to 2013's Everything's A Thread.

The beginnings of the Zappa-esque funk hinted at on the aforementioned album are unleashed in full, glorious force on this latest record, which is heavily influenced by '80s psychedelic disco and early 2000s house party tunes. The Daft Punk-influenced Weekend Lover ends with that sweet, electric synth spazz-out and could have been the B-side track to Homework. Then there is the runner-up opening theme to Beverly Hills Cop that is Midnight At The Plutonium, featuring one of the best bass lines released this year. Can You Feel The Future — the third standout — apparently started life as a guitar loop about six years ago and turned into what guitarist Tim Morrissey has described as the best song the band have ever put to tape, and, after a few listens he may actually be right.

All the tales are told with the same classic John Steel Singers irony and humour and with none of the hype or expectation from eight years ago — the confidence in writing and production is obvious. It definitely sounds like the group had lots of fun making this and at only eight songs it's short, sweet and something to get excited about when they inevitably tour it.