Vintage guitar jangle – think the Feelies, early REM, early Aztec Camera – has begun seeping into a batch of younger Aussie bands, from Milk Teddy and Dick Diver to Pop Singles and the Twerps. Now comes Canberra trio Teddy Trouble with a very promising combination of half-mumbled vocals, searching guitar, itchy bass, and low-impact drums.
The ancient-sounding “Byths’ begins things with spangled, ramshackle instrumentation and somewhat twee vocals still very rough around the edges. Byrds-worthy licks open “Ornament Cat’, while each instrument rings clearly on the reverbed “Corroboree Park’. The guitar is stripped down and well captured on “Southward Migration’, countered by the more bouncing bass of the Feelies-ish instrumental “Amazing Flying Boy’, which sounds like it was recorded live. The closing title track is also the weirdest, with lyrics about neglected spiders and a fat skeleton in the closet uncoiling over a plodding dirge.
As outsider/underground guitar-pop goes, this debut EP proves incredibly effective. The instrumentation is light, bright, and lively, but with lots of shadows at play as well. And despite a muffled quality at times, it sounds great, especially considering it was produced by the band itself. Time to start the countdown towards an album.
Doug Wallen
