Australian art-rock royalty Adalita, Mick Harvey, Mick Turner and Marty Brown have formed supergroup Bleak Squad.
The Melbourne four-piece features members from Magic Dirt, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Dirty Three and Art of Fighting, uniting for their debut album Strange Love. Bleak Squad released their first single Lost My Head today alongside the album announcement and October tour dates.
Bleak Squad Australian tour
- Single: Lost My Head – out now
- Album: Strange Love – Friday 22 August via Poison City
- Warm-up shows: Friday 1 August (Queenscliff Town Hall), Saturday 2 August (Meeniyan Town Hall)
- Tour dates: Saturday 11 October (City Recital Hall, Sydney), Thursday 16 October (Recital Hall, Melbourne)
- Pre-orders: Available now via Poison City, Bandcamp and Rough Trade
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Supergroup formation and sound
Bleak Squad emerged from drummer Marty Brown’s poolside inspiration at Fitzroy pool, where he recognised the four musicians shared a similar approach to making music that was uncomplicated and instantaneous. Brown, known for his work with Art of Fighting and Claire Bowditch, contacted the other members to form what he describes as a loose collection of misfits.
The band recorded Strange Love at Melbourne’s Head Gap studios with engineer Rohan Sforcina, capturing most tracks in just two takes. The nine-song album features brooding guitars, slippery basslines, organ drones and Turner’s distinctive guitar sounds, with Adalita and Harvey sharing lead vocal duties across tales of dampened love and threaded acceptance.
The debut album showcases each member’s unique musical personality while demonstrating their complementary chemistry. Tracks like the loping title track and Everything Must Change build from sparse rock foundations to swampy swagger, while World Go to Hell and Blue Signs explore celestial depression before closer Melanie collapses in distortion.
Strange Love represents Adalita’s first band project outside Magic Dirt and her solo work, marking an exciting collaboration with musicians she has long admired. The album’s energy, captured through the band feeling their way through songs, promises to translate into compelling live performances when Bleak Squad takes the stage this August and October.
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