If you were looking for an Australian equivalent of bands like The 1975, The Avenue out of Melbourne are probably it. Their melodies are equally as catchy, though the band brings a tad more rock to their output than their British counterparts – with their debut EP FACES last year, the group pulled comparisons to Catfish & The Bottlemen and even CHVRCHES. You get a pretty clear indication of the musical direction the four piece are heading in.
Think strong synths and catchy guitar. Plus vocals from Sam Thomas that are an instant winner for this type of indie pop music.
https://youtu.be/JFTy-WegXx4
With The Avenue’s new EP NAMES (out tomorrow), the band has continued to push these musical influences; awash with dreamy synths, room for larger moments of anthemic indie and the ability to contrast great moments of upbeat pop with more downtempo balladry.
To get a better idea of how NAMES came together, vocalist Sam Thomas runs through the EP, track by track.
“NAMES is sort of like a sonic illustration of the second phase of a relationship, which we’ve worked really hard to produce and perfect live.” he explains. “Listening from start to finish, there’s no audio silence and every song is a transition into the next. We’re thrilled to be able to share the second of four EP’s written and conceptualised portraying the arch of a relationship.”
NAMES
I made this almost entirely with a Microkorg synth and a guitar. I really like the idea of an album or EP being a cohesive illustration of a certain sonic theme or motif or sentiment. That’s why we often include these electronically shoegaze transition tracks.
ALWAYS.ALWAYS
We’re going to debut this song live on our east coast tour this year. It’s our most recently written song and I think it does a really good job of incorporating the majority of our stylistic diversity.
LOVE
“Love” is by far our ‘heaviest’ and most punk/garage influenced song.It’s about the feeling of your body screaming out for a person, but your mind detesting the thought of them.
LETDOWN
This is a pretty straight forward pop/rock song, but it also features some heavy electronic vibes. We’ve been playing this live for a pretty long time, so it’s cool to finally record and release it.
YOU’VE GOT A GRIP ON ME
This is our most experimental track to date. Featuring an extended intro and an outro created with an ensemble of saxophones, clarinets and flutes. It’s the first song that features really heavy autotune and dense vocal arrangements. I’m really proud of it and happy with how it ended up.
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The Avenue is on tour with NAMES this month and March…
THE AVENUE TOUR DATES
February 24th | Vic on the Park, SYDNEY
with Apollo Hooks
February 26th | Evelyn Hotel, MELBOURNE
supporting Jones The Cat
March 3rd | Ric’s Bar, BRISBANE
with Everchanging, Video Avenue, Waken Phoenix
March 10th | Evelyn Hotel, MELBOURNE (Official Launch)
with Everchanging, Kat Eddy Trio
Follow the band online, here.
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