ROLLING BLACKOUTS CF HOPE DOWNS LTD. ED. COLOUR VINYL LP D'LOAD *NEW*
£
27
$
36
£ 27
Sold For
Jun 22, 2018
Sold Date
Jun 20, 2018
Start Date
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Great Britain
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Description Summary ? It’s rare that a band’s debut album sounds as confident and self-assured as Rolling BlackoutsCoastal Fever’s ‘Hope Downs’. To say that the first full-length from the Melbourne quintet
improves on their buzz-building EPs from the last few years would be an understatement: the
promise those early releases hinted at is fully realized here, with ten songs of urgent,
passionate guitar pop that elicit warm memories of bands past, from the Go-Betweens’ jangle
to the charmingly lo-fi trappings of New Zealand’s Flying Nun label. Don’t mistake Rolling
Blackouts Coastal Fever for nostalgists though: ‘Hope Downs’ is the sound of a band finding its
own collective voice.
? The hard-hitting debut album is a testament to Rolling Blackouts C.F.’s tight-knit and hardworking
bonafides. Prior to forming the band in 2013, singers / guitarists Fran Keaney, Tom
Russo and Joe White had played together in various garage bands, dating back to high school.
When Rolling Blackouts C.F. started, with Joe Russo (Tom’s brother) on bass, Marcel (Tussie,
Joe White’s then-housemate) on drums, the chemistry was immediate. After a split EP with You
Yangs (another Russo brother’s band), released in the form of a frisbee, they self-released
‘Talk Tight’ in 2015, which Sydney-based record label Ivy League gave a wider release the
following year. ‘Talk Tight’ garnered plaudits from critics, including legendary rock scribe
Robert Christgau. In 2017, Sub Pop released ‘The French Press’ EP, bringing the band’s
chugging and tuneful non-linear indie rock to the rest of the world as they settled into their
sound with remarkable ease.
? ‘Hope Downs’ was largely written over the past year in the band’s Melbourne rehearsal room
where their previous releases were also written and recorded. The band’s core trio of
songwriters hunkered down and wrote as the chaos of the world outside unavoidably seeped
into the songwriting process. “We were feeling like we were in a moment where the sands
were shifting and the world was getting a lot weirder. There was a general sense that things
were coming apart at the seams and people around us were too,” Russo explains. The album
title, taken from the name of a vast open cut mine in the middle of Australia, refers to the
feeling of “standing at the edge of the void of the big unknown, and finding something to hold
on to.”
? With the help of engineer / producer Liam Judson and his portable setup, the band recorded
‘Hope Downs’ live and co-produced ten guitar pop gems over the course of two weeks in
Northern New South Wales during the winter of 2017. ‘Hope Downs’ possesses a robust fullband
sound that’s all the more impressive considering the band’s avoidance of traditional
recording studios. If you loved ‘Talk Tight’ and ‘The French Press’, you certainly won’t be
disappointed here - but you might also be surprised at how the band’s sound has grown.
There’s a richness and weight to these songs that was previously only hinted at, from the
skyscraping chorus of ‘Sister’s Jeans’ to the thrilling climax of album closer ‘The Hammer’.
? ‘Hope Downs’ is as much about the people that populate the world around us - their stories,
perspectives and hopes in the face of disillusionment - as it is about the state of things at
large. It’s a record that focuses on finding the bright spots at a time when cynicism all too
often feels like the natural state. Rolling Blackouts C.F. are here to remind us to keep our feet
on the ground - and ‘Hope Downs’ is as delicious a taste of terra firma as you’re going to get
from a rock band right now.
Main Description
ARTIST: ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
TITLE: HOPE DOWNS
LABEL: SUB POP
CAT. NO.: SP1220X
FORMAT: LIMITED EDITION COLOUR VINYL LP plus DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
TRACKLIST:
An Air Conditioned Man
Talking Straight
Mainland
Time in Common
Sister’s Jeans
Bellarine
Cappuccino City
Exclusive Grave
How Long?
The Hammer
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