Final Fare/A Toast To…

Linked labelmates Angel Eyes and Superstar share certain themes and sounds as well, including a sense of adventure borrowed from another era’s films and pop hits, writes MAX EASTON.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] Released on the same date by Brisbane label Bedroom Suck, the Melbourne-based projects of Andrew Cowie (Angel Eyes) and duo Superstar (Esther Edquist and Kieran Hegarty) have been made to appear in intimate contact. In addition to sharing a label and a cross-collaboration in the form of Cowie and Hegarty’s Legendary Hearts, the two acts also trade on the same reference points. Both records recall 1980s synth ballads and film scores, perhaps by virtue of their chosen instrumentation and pace but also in their reliance on textural creation. They create songs that set scenes, with the accompanying visuals suggested only in the imagination.

On A Toast To…, Superstar evoke the spaces between dramatic events. Long, uneventful stretches act as cinematic fills, recalling neon hues shining over nighttime backdrops with the lingering sense of a faded conflict. Hegarty’s lead guitar plies a gentle meander behind the drum machine and synth pads of Edquist, with that sense of space extending beyond the imagery induced by that setup and over to Edquist’s just-intelligible lyrics. “Move forward,” she sings on ‘Soft Urges’. “Make it happen… My door is always open.” The language is uncertain and without finality, forever awaiting the actions of others. Maybe it’s the open-endedness of this record that makes it feel so cinematic, but there’s that strange familiarity that seems to pluck memories of 30-year-old films – excess on the boulevard, stylised sex scenes in futuristic apartments, the forced emotions following the death of a secondary character.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Superstar - Fine Wine by bedroom suck records

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] Angel Eyes’ Final Fare is also concerned with the spaces between dramatic events, but in this case there is less space within the songs themselves. The textures are more dense and erratic, with sounds snatched and placed amongst rolling backdrops before being discarded just as readily. This sense of exploration that both bands share is more pronounced on Final Fare. Where Superstar have a focused attention span, Angel Eyes sees songs begin in one realm before a curious tampering ends them in another. Here, chords meld into made beats while fleeting samples jab behind Cowie’s unusual vocal performance.

Andrew Cowie’s vocals, surprisingly enough, have words hidden behind them – but they are completely indecipherable. It acts to feed the erratic sounds with an otherworldly presence. Lost behind the heavy-handed treatment of the arrangements, his voice hovers above continuous synthetic textures, sometimes menacingly, sometimes with omniscient warmth. It’s strange to imagine that there’s a hidden meaning behind the distorted moans, but the record is stronger for having that meaning left in the distance. With sounds that evoke yawning expanses and endless motion, it’s fitting that the songs should pose more questions than answers.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Angel Eyes - Final Fare by bedroom suck records

A Toast To… and Final Fare are two highlights from a growing field of Australian electronic explorations, in context with acts such as Adelaide’s Rites Wild or the more recent work of Melbourne’s HTRK. These projects are investigative and searching, carrying with them a certain level of self-indulgence and internal adventure that, as a listener, can feel almost voyeuristic. For Superstar and Angel Eyes, their records aren’t about ’80s revivalism at all; that seems almost incidental. Instead, their records take the sense of adventure that coated that era’s pop music and, in exploring that sensation and those technologies, create something new, strange and beautiful.

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‘Final Fare’ and ‘A Toast To…’ are out now through Bedroom Suck.