Whereas once Antipodeans arriving in London were content to seek out the nearest bar and get a job behind it, now it seems they’d prefer to conquer our stages instead. Cameras (from Sydney) produced our last Album of the Week, and now SPLASHH have gone one better by actually relocating here from the sunny climes of Byron Bay. You can hear the band’s balmy origins in their music which is, by their own admission, “kind of about sun and girls”, whereas most British indie tends to be largely influenced by a distinct lack of either. So far their infectious, solar-dazed enthusiasm has remained undimmed by both a record-breakingly wet British summer and the addition of a bassist from Wolverhampton.
Then again the bands they most sound alike, Pixies and Ash (before they went shit), hailed from Boston and Northern Ireland which aren’t exactly gleaming sun-traps. Perhaps the influence of those bands takes precedence; to be honest, if Kim Deal was Apple she’d have sued the shit out of SPLASHH after hearing the bassline to “Headspins”, while the poppy fuzz of new single “Need It” could’ve been lifted straight off Ash’s debut album. Everything else is peppered with garage flecks and then coated in coastal sunshine.
Yet seeing as Wavves went over this sort of ground pretty recently, you’d be forgiven for pondering the point of it all. The answer? Reckless enthusiasm. Live, the band tend to win over the doubters by the first stage-dive (which is pretty impressive considering their first gig was only a few months ago), and they somehow manage to transpose that wanton delight into the studio too. The last great musical immigrant from Down Under was Nick Cave, who came with a duffel bag full of murder weapons and Cormac McCarthy paperbacks. SPLASHH’s satchel is full of suncream and skin mags instead. Now we just need a bit more sunshine to go with them.
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