Structurally, Sydney’s Big White have one of the more unique arrangements in the indie realm: three guitarists – all of whom share lead vocal duties – and a keyboardist in lieu of a bassist. It’s one of the many attributes that ensure the quintet stands out from the pack.
The band’s long-awaited debut LP, Teenage Dreams, collates the string of singles they have dropped over the course of the last year or so and matches them with an equally fresh batch of brimming, bustling pop tunes. Glassy guitar tones and brisk drums guide a dozen songs through elements of slacker jangle, new wave, post-punk and garage-dwelling rock. It’s retro-tinged, certainly – see the VHS-quality album cover – but never feels reductive or regressively so. You Know I Love You is playful and punchy, with Cody Moore recalling Robert Smith at his cheeriest; while Tuesday is a lovelorn slow dance through outer suburbia. Dinosaur City, alternatively, marries chirpy chord inversions with sugary synth buzz.
Well worth the wait, Teenage Dreams is confident, consistent and creative. It’s a sharply dressed indie-rock record that takes an Old El Paso stance on the hard-fought war between style and substance: Why don’t we have both?
BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG
