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The Stress of Leisure launches latest album It Goes Away With The Heat (Valve Records) at the Cave Inn on Friday October 4, alongside McKisko and Locust Revival. The album is a return to the embrace of the tropics for the band. The title is also reflective of the age of hyper-politics we’re all living through. It’s somewhat post-punk, somewhat faux-wave, and unsurprisingly dabbles on the edges of weirdo, as you’d expect from this quartet.

Recorded at Phaedra Studios in Coburg, Melbourne by John Lee (Mod Con, Blake Scott, Laura Jean), the band opted for a rawer more live sound reminiscent of early Modern Lovers recordings: minimal takes, the right energy throughout. It’s reflective of the rawness in the Brisbane music story, the endless humidity, the sweaty passion, the cross pollination of punk and other influences. 

‘The world feels like it’s moving too rapidly and, at the same time, it’s moving much too slowly.’ Pascalle Burton (keys/vocals) notes, ‘That’s one thing the album tries to capture. It reminds me of summer storms in Queensland. Full of tension, with brooding heat and simmering quiet between thunderous and dangerous outbursts. On both a human and structural level, I think the songs also probe the impacts of people’s actions on others.’

Locust Revival

Mysterious purveyors of tropical goth post-punk Locust Revival don the leather and shades, and they do rock. Originally conceived on the wrong side of the tracks of Stones Corner, the band started out as the bedroom project of Steven Schnorrer (Barge With An Antenna On It/Pleasure Symbols). The relatively recent addition of Kelly Schinkel (Blussh) on bass and Matt Deasy (Ultra Material) on drums is fantastic and packs a punch. Latest album The New Cure Album in title alone is exactly the tongue-in-cheek wryness you’d come to expect. Their performance at the just held That Sound Over The Fence festival was mighty impressive. 

McKisko

Ever since the debut record, 2009’s Glorio, McKisko has continued to entrance audiences. The nom de plume of Helen Franzmann, Helen also plays in Mess Esque with Mick Turner of Dirty Three fame, and tours the world. This is a sublime and adventurous artist in our midsts who keeps making great music and who, if they lived in the more populous northern parts of the world, would be suitably adored on a much vaster scale. 2019 album Southerly proved this beyond doubt, and only drives us to yearn for more! 

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Today we launch our new album Faux Wave to the world. You can find it on most of the usual online platforms.

What a crazy year, and to think that this is a small consolation prize for all the upheaval of the last several months. We were lucky to record this album just before the lockdown happened around the globe.

Faux Wave is probably our best album. I say ‘probably’, because you can never tell with the midsts of time what is ‘the best’. It somehow feels like a renewal even though it’s a continuation. There is something special about it which doesn’t make me flinch when I hear it, and also gives me that feeling of “Why didn’t we try this earlier?!” It’s a collaborative effort, all of us bring something to this album that gives it a unity unlike before.

On about Day 4 of recording, I asked John Lee (who recorded, mixed and mastered Faux Wave) what kind of genre he thought we were. “Are we post-punk or art rock? What are we?” After some back and forth, John thought we had a No-Wave vibe to what we do. That was a high compliment in my book even though I’m thinking we’re nowhere even approximating Teenage Jesus and the Jerks or The Contortions. But, what would I know…. Later, in the evening when we were having dinner I was reflecting on the genre conversation again. Jessica Moore, without missing a beat simply added “No-Wave? More like faux wave!” We were simultaneously thrilled. The name stuck.

The title Faux Wave is interchangeable as our newly defined genre, or simply it is the encapsulating theme of this new album. And well, what an age we live in. The age of ‘fake news’, the age of products with shorter and shorter lifespans, of short-termism, environmental distress, more plastics, of reckoning with colonial heritages, upheaval, upheaval, upheaval. The list could go on and on….

So….let’s hear it for our favourite waves – ocean, sound, micro, blow, tidal, x-ray, radio and faux.

And, may this Faux Wave find you safe and well.

Ian

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Okay! Today we launch a new single Banker On TV. It is a short faux wave ditty about a never-ending story we all know – money, wealth, the empire of greed, swiping right with consequence.

We’re multi-taskers alright, so of course the subject matter is an arterial spray of constant vigilance. Actually, the song contains many of the sort of topics we get really excited about at The Stress of Leisure. None of this “Do they love me?”, “Who am I?” mumbo jumbo. We’re hardcore realists/fantasists!

New album Faux Wave comes out November 13. You can discover the single Banker On TV here and here, and also here….

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‘The times are now interesting enough for Interesting Times’ — Jane Elliott, 2020

Today marks the release of our single, Interesting Times. We recorded this song during the Eruption Bounce sessions with Darek Mudge and thought it a bit serious at the time to include on that album. Jessica Moore, however, never forgot it and has lobbied for its release ever since.

The video that accompanies the song was made in a lockdown fever by Pascalle and Ian.

Thanks to the excellent Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie zine for premiering the track – Bianca’s collage is excellent!

This world is weird right now, we hope that you and your loved ones are all safe. We hope to see you on the other side of this with a renewed appreciation for how vulnerable we all are.

‘They knew now that if there is one thing one can always yearn for, and sometimes attain, it is human love.’ ― Albert Camus, The Plague

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In February, The Stress of Leisure decamped to Melbourne for a week of recording at Phaedra Studios (located in Coburg). We worked with John Lee who has recorded many fave artists of ours – especially the Laura Jean Devotion album, an album we played a lot in the van whilst touring. We’ve also dug the albums of other artists he’s worked with including Lost Animal, No Sister and Beaches but to name a few.

We didn’t know what to expect but came away pretty happy with it all. Over five days we worked towards recording ten songs and we mostly got there, bar a few overdubs. Not only was working with John a great experience for us, he also drew out our more punkier artier sensibilities. We were feeding off the energy of the songs. No click tracks. There was a feeling amongst all of us, that things were working out a bit too easy. What was the catch? When were things going to fall in a heap? Ian was complimented by Pascalle for being patient during everything. What was going on!?!

Amongst it all we even managed to catch a couple of live sets from one of our favourite Australian acts – Dave Graney and the MistLY. They played the Memo Music Hall down in St Kilda on a Thursday night and were absolutely on fire. We were lucky enough to play a couple of shows with them in 2012 – one at the Miami Shark Bar which Dave would probably love to recall – and hadn’t seen them play as a foursome since. Such a great band in full flight.

We’re hoping to mix the album soon and maybe, don’t wanna jinx it, it’ll probably come out later in 2020. What does it sound like? Good question. It definitely feels more political than our other albums as a lot of the lyrics were written during the horrendous bushfire summer of 2019/20. It definitely feels looser and punkier too. Some killer bass lines. John compared us to a few no wave acts which was very generous of him. Jessica Moore, our resident millennial drummer (and early adopter of technology), said we’re more like ‘faux wave’. Maybe Jessica’s onto something here?

Whatever it sounds like, we look forward to releasing it someday. The above collage is some photos taken during the recording week. Good times.