Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs

Rating:

Delightfully assured and beautifully executed.

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are not to be messed with. Never has a band sounded more in control over the sounds they’re creating and the effortless ease in which they do it than these Australians - it was something first glimpsed on second EP ‘The French Press’ last year and ever since, they’ve been an ever-enduring sigh of quality. It continues onto their debut album proper ‘Hope Downs’, a sun-drenched time capsule of tight guitars and reassuring melodies that provide the perfect soundtrack for the summer about to grace our eyes.

Everything is sophisticated and sharp, tight to the button yet delivered in a manner that makes it sound like the band are gathered around at a poolside BBQ and have jumped up to play. Three frontmen may seem like a bold move, but across ‘Hope Downs’ they fuse into a delicious mix. ‘An Air Conditioned Man’, ‘Time In Common’ and ‘Bellarine’ are crisp to touch, harmonies and searing light rising from them - whilst standouts ‘Mainland’ and ‘Talking Straight’ rip with a burning ambition. It’s never dull, never lax or contrived - always in control with a charm that can’t be denied. When they gaze upwards on ‘Sister’s Jeans’ and ‘How Long’ the results are truly special - whilst closer ‘The Hammer’ gleams with a War On Drugs quality that justifiably sits as the longest track on the album (only at four and half minutes might be added).

What Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever do best, is know exactly what they do best. Delightfully assured and beautifully executed - ‘Hope Downs’ is a perfect snapshot of everything the band have promised and represented from the beginning. If you were looking for that soundtrack to BBQ days with an ice cream and the shades on, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have delivered it. Jamie Muir