- As Aussie as a peeling sunburn or a the remnants of a melted Cornetto sticky between your fingers, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever follow up 2017’s French Press EP with debut LP Hope Downs. They’re the Australiana version of The Strokes, had Julien Casablancas been a surf instructor on the side, or an answer to Real Estate who do nine weet-bix for breakfast before heading out on stage.
The five-piece from Melbourne boast not one, but three singer/guitarists: Fran Keaney, Tom Russo, and Joe White, contributing pop, spoken word, country and punk flavours to Frankenstein the jangly, sun drenched, guitar driven bedlam of Hope Downs. Equally as important this time around was the recording process. The full-length was recorded live just outside of Ballina and is truly a snapshot of the time and social climate Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever exist within.
Mainland follows Russo’s journey to the Aeolian Islands -where the European refugee crisis unfolded before him- and the helplessness and detachment those of us removed from the situation can feel. Cut Sisters Jeans blisters in the late afternoon sun. Thick with suburban nostalgia, ringing, clean guitar punctuates the trifecta of vocalists' ocker drawls. If you came here for the guitar riffs, you won’t leave disappointed. The quintet weaponise duelling guitars, pushing them front and centre in each of the tracks on the record but most notably they can be found simmering in An Airconditioned Man, Exclusive Grave and The Hammer.
Hope Downs' clutch of ten songs is the fervent, calculated guitar driven indie rock fans have come to expect from Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. In true RBCF fashion sprawling guitar runs and take-no-prisoners bass lines trump the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus framework, resulting in a cohesive yet charmingly chaotic first full-length outing. The true beauty of this record is its transportive nature, allowing me to travel back to hanging out with my dad in my family’s sunroom, listening to old Go-Betweens vinyl and yet, somehow staying inexplicably current.
- Fiona Priddey.Hope Downs by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever