Courting

After five years between albums, Ivy St answer their previous bile with a greater sense of the scenery, even evoking the Australian ballad tradition, writes FREYA ZAKNICH.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] Tasmanian-formed and now operating in Melbourne, Ivy St presents Courting, their second full-length since their debut Picture Machine was released five years ago. ‘1980’ opens the album with a slow locomotive thrum and shrill whistle. The song is half over, with anticipation well built, before a wearied voice begins. It soon grows frantic, speaking of energies exhausted, of love and fuel. “As the toil that whips, and takes tiny slivers off your bones” is weak and miserable, but a beautiful line for company as the record forges on.

Both ‘Glenorchy’ and ‘Ten Ounces in the Sticks’ are microcosm requiems and flourishing with affective descriptions of places and people. These, unlike the feral spits of bile that marked Ivy St’s previous efforts, seem better rounded. Perhaps from perspective gained, from the time passed and distance gained from their origin.

There is something of the almost-classic Australian tradition at play in the defiantly narrated collection of Courting. Of ballads writ by brutes, released unto the night and returning as a smeared reflection on themselves and others – typified best by outback folklore in songs like ‘Kathy Knows’ by The Triffids. The stories aren’t your own, yet you may lay claim to it as part of the mythology of the country, as part of your citizenship.

‘The Camera’s Pierce’ sticks in the throat, at first as a surprising reprieve in that it slows some and squeals less. The soft waltzing story of disappearing pictures aims for nostalgia, the kind reserved for fading white eyes and those who talk so as not to forget. It all jars with the current notion of photography and memory-making.

Next, however, is a reminiscence entrenched with old guilt and smacking with fresh shame. Snatches of childhood and adolescence can be vividly frightening, and ‘Carmel Keeps a Bucket’ is a visitation of sickness in the night. It comes on relentlessly with pounding drums and seasick bass that crash over your body, asking, “How did you sleep last night?” with snide malice in the dim light of day.

In listening briefly, there is recklessness in the base truth-giving that runs throughout Courting. At first it is almost entirely occupied by some gruesome moments of vocal delivery. In tracks like ‘Courting for the Morning’ and ‘The Bartender’, singer Thomas Hyland shakes and bleats, overcome and coming undone in his own nausea. After matching pace with the plunges and swings of guitars and unyielding percussion for a time, the surroundings become less bewildering. Familiarity settles in and there’s a greater sense of the scenery and birthplace of these songs, and of Ivy St as a band, awake again after a long time dormant.

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‘Courting’ is out now independently on digital and limited vinyl. Read the band’s Track by Track. Launch tour dates below.

Fri, May 2 – The John Curtin Hotel, Melbourne, VIC [w/Witch Hats + Tim Richmond]
Thurs, May 15 – The Croatian Club, Newcastle, NSW [w/Rat King + Polyfox]
Fri, May 16 – The Square, Sydney, NSW [w/Mere Women + Yes I’m Leaving]
Sat, May 17 – Trainspotters, Brisbane, QLD [w/Thigh Master, Scrabble + High Beams]
Sat, June 14 – Frankie’s Empire, Hobart, TAS [w/The Native Cats]