Bleak Squad is the most well-known Melbourne band no one’s heard of.
Bleak Squad are a new Melbourne four-piece comprised of Australian art-rock royalty – co-authors of some of the most critically-acclaimed antipodean music of the last 40 years. Featuring Mick Turner (Dirty Three, Mess Esque) Mick Harvey (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, The Birthday Party), Adalita (Magic Dirt) and Marty Brown (Art of Fighting), “supergroup” is an embarrassing word. “Supernatural” might be more apt.
“I think the name Bleak Squad speaks to both this loose collection of misfits,” says Adalita of the concoction. “And the noirish mood of our music.”
Bleak Squad’s debut LP Strange Love is the moving sum of these parts, one that sees all four members juggle multiple instruments, songwriting, their own idiosyncrasies and – in the case of Adalita and Harvey – lead vocal duties. The nine songs percolate on brooding guitars, slippery basslines, organ drones, Brown’s lyrical drumming, and the unmistakable, illogical fizz of Turner’s guitar squawks. Over it, Adalita and Harvey swap and share tales of love dampened, hope on hold and threaded tendrils of acceptance.
As with all great works, Bleak Squad’s story starts by the pool.
“I was sitting around Fitzroy pool one summer bemoaning I wasn’t playing drums enough,” says Marty Brown. “So I thought I might start a new project and just called everyone then and there. I can’t remember why I thought it would work. Maybe I recognised we all had a similar way of making music – uncomplicated and instantaneous.”
Brown’s intuition is sharp. The drummer in melancholy mainstays Art of Fighting, as well as his partner Claire Bowditch’s band, Brown runs Standalone Studios, where he’s engineered and produced records with both those acts, as well as Sodastream, Darren Middleton and many more.
“I knew everyone had a completely unique musical personality,” says Brown of his contacts list. “But I wasn’t expecting how well those personalities would complement each other.”
Activated by Brown’s phone call, the four members brought in song ideas to a jam session at Melbourne’s Head Gap studios. With engineer Rohan Sforcina on the record button, the band – effectively – simply began.
“The first day was effortless,” says Brown. “We played the songs one time to teach others the bits, then we’d record the second take. A lot of Strange Love is that second take. Even though most of the tracks were jams, it sounds like we were reacting and playing to ‘the song’.”
Harvey agrees. “Marty concocted something good. He guessed at a good chemistry. But everyone put in lots of ideas and committed to the project. Playing music with other people is an exciting thing when it clicks.”
The nine songs on Strange Love reflect this alchemy – a regal compilation of bruised tunes that swoon and sizzle, while betraying the historic confidence of its members. Opener ‘Lost My Head’, the loping title track and ‘Everything Must Change’ build from sparse rock chugs to a swampy swagger, while the gorgeous ‘World Go to Hell’ and lonesome ‘Blue Signs’ skirt celestial depression. By the time closer ‘Melanie’ collapses in squalls of distortion, something is excised. It’s less a statement from veteran players, than a conjuring of something kinetic and conversational.
“Everything seemed to flow really easily, with everyone just getting a vibe and stepping in or out with the feel,” says Adalita. “We all add our own strengths to everything. And we take turns in the spotlight.”
What happens next? Live shows. And pinching themselves.
“I just really love the album we’ve made,” says Adalita. “This is the first time I’ve been in a band outside of Magic Dirt and my solo thing. So playing with different musicians I’ve always looked up to and being so inspired by being in an actual new band, is really exciting. They’re just fucking amazing. I really am pinching myself. It’s unreal. I really can’t wait to play live.”
Brown agrees. “I can’t wait to get the band on stage. The album has such an energy from feeling our way through the songs, I think it’ll make for a great show.”
“I’d have to say I feel the same way,” says Harvey.
And what does Turner make of all this?
!!!
LP/CD/Digital preorders available now via Poison City www.poisoncityestore.com and Bandcamp www.bleaksquad.bandcamp.com
