New Noise: Raus, Southern Comfort, Tobias Hengeveld, Love Signs

This week’s roundup of new music makes stops at Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.

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– ‘Drive’/‘Yellow’ is the latest name-your-price missive from Raus, the brooding electro-pop project of Canberra’s Rory Stenning. Bubbling along beneath Stenning’s debonair baritone, ‘Drive’ is more straightforwardly poppy than April’s single ‘Miles’, while ‘Yellow’ is an askew synthstrumental that warbles nicely before suddenly perking up. Both are quite enjoyable, but somewhat fleeting as well – they could easily be expanded beyond their relatively short running times. All of this points in the direction of Raus’ debut mini-album, due in early September through Canberra label hellosQuare.

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– Well, this is great. Southern Comfort is the long-simmering team-up of Sydney’s Angie Bermuda (Angie, Straight Arrows, Ruined Fortune) and Melbourne’s Harriet Hudson (Ratsak, Miss Destiny), and they released a 7” on preeminent Chicago label HoZac back in May. We’re only now getting around to writing about it, and for shame, because the A-side ‘Suzanne’ combines a mud-spattered guitar hook with a hummable sweetness that’s kind of unexpected. We haven’t heard the B-side ‘Me and My Baby’, but ‘Suzanne’ alone seals the deal. Turns out it’s an amalgam of Bermuda and Hudson’s mums’ names. Awwww. Miss Destiny are also doing a HoZac 7” soon – we’ll try not to be so behind on that one.

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– Slowing it down considerably from there is Tobias Hengeveld, the Melbourne folk songwriter who did time in both Scout Hall and The Night Bell before releasing 2009’s solo debut All the Lines Are Down. His follow-up is The Daylight Express, heralded by the title track and ‘Fools Rush In’. There’s a fault line of country music splintering through Hengeveld’s vocals, and the album’s more experimental production (c/o Robbie Rowlands) complicates the songs more. He’s got a reliable backing band in The Drones’ Steve Hesketh, Ron S Peno & The Superstitions’ Andy Papadopoulos and Ash Davies, plus guests on Hammond, horns, vibes and more. Hengeveld is launching the album locally in mid-August, with two other gigs on either side of that.

Wed, July 16 – Bella Union @ Trades Hall, Carlton, VIC
Sat, July 26 – The Retreat, Brunswick, VIC [solo, w/Chris Pickering]
Fri, Aug 15 – Bella Union @ Trades Hall, Carlton, VIC [album launch]
Fri, Aug 29 – The Yarra Hotel, Abbottsford, VIC
Thurs, Sept 11 – High Tea, Sydney, NSW [solo]

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– Featuring members of Go Violets (R.I.P.) and Jeremy Neale’s backing band, Brisbane’s Johnny and the Fembots caught our attention with the girl-group-y single (and playful video) ‘Hey! Don’t!’. That band are now on hiatus, but member Izzy Mellor pops up in Love Signs, a new trio whose debut single ‘Wish at Home’ emerged last month. It’s a gentle, sparkling pop song that quietly spikes its slow-dance ’50s vibe with kiss-off lyrics like “Wish you’d leave me alone.” Love Signs play at Alhambra Lounge tonight (July 10) with Jesse Davidson, White Lodge and Lambda DJs; more info here.

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To nominate new music for this column, email us at news@messandnoise.com.