Released: 31st January 2020
Rating: ★★★
It’s been eight years since Dune Rats’ first burst out of whichever party they were presumably born at and showed their music to the wider world. A lot’s happened in that time, but third album ‘Hurry Up and Wait’ firmly proves that the band are just as irreverent and hard-partying as ever – for better and for worse.
Highlights include ‘Stupid Is As Stupid Does’, featuring K Flay, a track about a relationship gone wrong with an infectious singalong chorus about fucking everything up, and ‘No Plans’, an ode to the frustrations of being in a band.
If there’s one addition to the music this time around, it’s a vein of cynicism and a slow realisation that maybe the party does have to stop at some point. Early track’ Rubber Arm’ is a reflection on wasting your life, while ‘Rock Bottom’ does exactly what it says on the tin, with lyrics about your boss being half your age and waiting for a bus when you’re already late. It’s still presented in the same scuzzy Aussie punk style, with surf guitars and catchy hooks, but strip it back to the lyrics, and it all gets a bit… bleak.
‘Hurry Up and Wait’ is still as much fun as throwing a house party on your birthday and drinking far too much cheap beer, but there’s a lingering sense that you’ve ruined your mum’s furniture and the hangover might not be worth the drunken high. The sunglasses are still on, but they’re only there to cover up how very, very tired everyone is.
Jake Hawkes
