- Totally Unicorn has been building a bigger profile and they’ve more than definitely earned it. One of a kind live shows, music that sounds like a drunken breakdown, and marketing so ahead of the curve, they might as well have pulled up in a smoking Delorean with several cartons and a keg, the magical, oft-rainbow clad beasts have created a cult following. Dream Life pushed them up from the underground to obtain semi-regular airplay and festival spots over the last few years. A new album and with a chat line to contact the band directly now set up, Sorry is, in name alone, here the Wollongong locals find themselves.
Manic energy from all parts whipped previous Totally Unicorn records into living daemons. Thrashing, howling, snapping, and crashing in all directions, they don’t deviate from that in the slightest here, but, dare I say it, they’ve caught lightning in a goddam bottle of homebrew. Your mind will still be doing complex processing to keep up with it but the code is easier to comprehend. The titular track opens up with a tense slow build before violent and pleading apologies grind it into The Island, a noisy thrash with biting guitars swooping overheard of spasmodic drums and yelping strains. In a knowing, self-referential nod, we’re told the breakdown of the song wasn’t meant to be part of it. Touching on breakdowns, the pulled breakdown on Grub harkens back to the pummelling guitars that were present on Horse Hugger but this guitar work exhibits a steadier head. You’re slung disorientingly into atonal rapids and barely given enough time to peep your head above water as jarring vocals pound and you’re dragged down by the instrumental claws. Totally Unicorn have refined their chaos which is not to say this record doesn’t feature some awe inspiring sonic assaults. A Song For Deadshits’s is something you’d listen to on the way to a job you did for the money not the love: an extended introduction agitates a nerve, or fits your mood perfectly if you’re already agitated. Prize Pig’s tinnitus inducing stabs meld themselves into an ending of post-hardcore candy: catchy enough to toe tap along but still enough of a discordant behemoth to blow the roof off any venue. I’ll Be Fine Now’s place in the album and in the overall Totally Unicorn lore should be seen as a signature one. While it is the most dulcet of what we’ve heard so far, it both stands out and fits snuggly. Drew Gardener reigns in his manic wrenches and still commands the same emotional depth and vulnerability. The guitars, though slower, are still slightly off by that barest of margins and inspire anxiety.
A Totally Unicorn album could consist of Drew screaming a cutout poem with content from The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar, Tim Pat Coogan’s The IRA, and anything by Tony Robbins over raucous post-hardcore splashes and I’d love it. Truthfully, I think this group are one of the best going in Australia. From music put to record, engaging and bewildering live shows that hypnotise you into being a fan before realising you are, a promotion game that ranges from crowd funding for a box of wine to emblazoning the immortal image of David James Young onto a t shirt, Totally Unicorn are doing everything right and it’s paying dividends. Sorry amalgamates every strength that these gents possess and focuses on being irrefutably ear grabbing in both catchy and explosive ways. With yelly personality as big as their grins, the four mythical blokes have indeed found the gold at the end of their sartorial rainbow.
- Matt Lynch.