Body Type: Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing's Surprising

- The story of how Eora/Sydney’s Body Type got their name, speaks to who they are as a band. Back in 2016, before they’d released anything, or, yes, had a name, the quartet were driving around in a car, on an adventure. Somewhere on this trek they made an unwise parking decision and got landed with a big, fat parking infringement. You can see it, if you want, re-printed on the cover of the self-titled 2018 EP. If you have a close look, you’ll notice that among the bureaucratic details like ‘Make’ and ‘Model’ there’s also ‘Body Type’. Now if you’re like me, you assumed that the name was taking a swipe at the politics of personal identity, not a bloody parking ticket! Really though, it’s both: Body Type are a band that can swing from the ignominy of life’s little disasters, to the grand scope of the big issues, without ever grinding a gear. The same thing can be said of their sound, which we’d already learnt from a couple of great EPs can move with astounding versatility through all sorts of rocking. Right now Body Type are back to prove it, at full-length, on Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising.

The quad of guitarists Sophie McComish and Annabel Blackman along with bassist Georgia Wilkinson-Derums and stalwart drummer Cecil Coleman have an unusual dynamic. It’s quite democratic, in the way they share songwriting duties and also malleable in they way instruments can be swapped around. I hear that when they first started out they were all learning new ones to enable just that sort of interaction. That may well explain Body Type manage a sound that’s both highly accomplished -because they already were- and yet still present a raw, DIY edge, because they’re still learning new things. It’s quite difficult to describe the band in terms of genre, because the genre they’re in changes so often, sometimes even within one song. The rough and ready growl may be a punk throwback, or is it garage? Quite soon you’ll forget about that though as the sound moves through ‘90’s sounding alt-rock and on into either a highly melodic ‘80’s anthem or the diverting sounds of ‘60’s girl groups.

The changes, thick and fast, are all realised with great fidelity by one of my favourite producers, Jonathan Boulet (you may know him currently from Party Dozen). Like a lot of the music being released now, the largest part of what’s here is two years old -thanks pandemic!- it’ll be interesting to hear what the intervening time has done to Body Type’s sound when they tour then nation, imminently. It's interesting, when all of this was first laid down the band were already “...coming out of a period that felt quite suffocating and restrictive. We just kind of regrouped and re-energised and did it ourselves” so says Sophie McComish. Well that sounds utterly appropriate for the present moment, too. This band are clearly primed for the times. Everything Is Dangerous, But Nothing’s Surprising, well…duh! Body Type bring the snark, the humor and the endless versatility to deal with anything.

- Chris Cobcroft.