- Egoism are an indie-pop duo out of Sydney. No-one ever said you need to overthink indie-pop, just hit them with the bubblegum hooks and reel ‘em in. Egoism certainly knows how to do that, but there’s just something else, a sophisticated quality, the barest hint of bitter in the sweetness and it makes everything more. That may be missing the point though, because when the new EP, On Our Minds, gets those hooks into you, wow, you’re gone.
Egoism’s first EP, It’s Wearing Off, was released in early 2017 and was cobbled together from songs that Scout Eastment and Olive Rush had been jamming out since they first started making music, a couple of years further back again. It actually casts a slightly wider net than their later work, taking in that much more of the indie spectrum -psych and folk and prog and heartland rock- and sounds pretty sweet, too.
In an interview with australianmusician.com.au, however, Eastment said a thing which I think is telling:
I remember as a teenager, really, because I was such a music nerd, I learned all these songs and … they all use the same chord progressions ... and I can’t do that because I don’t want to write all the same old, boring, generic songs. So I’ve got to write all these really complicated songs: and I would just add all of these crazy diminished fifths and ... put it in a pentatonic scale and it would be a terrible song. [I]t would have been this nice song if I’d just let it have a G chord in it, but I was like, no, I have to be cool and … I don’t really care anymore.
Is On Our Minds the expression of that? It’s like all unnecessary adornments have now fallen by the wayside. I think you can hear it on the standalone 2018 single Sorry, which may be the first time the band decided to do without that parade of guest drummers following them around, just hook up the drum machine and focus on the essentials of pop. Some of those drummers do still find their way on to On Our Minds, but if you listen to the very recent single and EP opener Here’s The Thing, you’ll hear the new formula: a perfect devotion to classic pop songwriting.
Even given the economy of Egoism’s approach, these timeless sounds mean there are numerous echoes of other good things. The his-and-hers breakup songs that are Here’s The Thing and You You channel an emo that’s quite urbane. I keep being reminded of American Football without a huge amount of evidence for that; perhaps it’s just the grown-up emotions. They also reference the gamut of good dreampop - from the greats like Cocteau Twins to contemporary friends like Hatchie. I think, however, that there’s a wider world of cute guitar pop you can hear, keying into twee-pop and C86 influenced bands like Belle & Sebastian and Camera Obscura. Again, I don’t know if that’s drawing a long bow or not, you be the judge. Oh, Egoism themselves seem to reckon you can hear The 1975 and The Veronicas in there; maybe this band is even more pop than I thought. Interestingly -and perhaps it’s because of the new pop focus- there’s comparatively little that sounds like My Bloody Valentine or Slowdive roaring on of On Our Minds, with one significant exception: the wall of noise crashing out the back of Never Leave; glorious, I don’t want you to ever leave me either Egoism.
I haven’t heard too much that I’d describe as classic guitar pop this year. It’s quite possible, even when it’s cut with a sophisticated air of sadness, that it didn’t feel equal to the task of soundtracking a year this bleak. At least that’s what I thought. Where there was only exhaustion, Egoism brings sweet emotion rushing back. They’re still like a voice from the past that I’m trying to place, not even noticing as the band snare me completely with those pop hooks. There’s no need to hold on so tight, really, because there’s no place I’d rather be.
- Chris Cobcroft.