Melbourne indie-pop duo Mother Culture release electric new single, ‘Fuzzface’
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04.06.2021

Melbourne indie-pop duo Mother Culture release electric new single, ‘Fuzzface’

Words by Talia Rinaldo

The Ward brothers give a fan favourite new life.

Fresh off the release of their first EP, To Be Frank, Melbourne-based indie-pop duo Mother Culture have revisited a prolific track from the band’s past with their latest single, ‘Fuzzface’. A poppy mashup of psychedelic sounds, ‘Fuzzface’ is a catchy and raw track with a killer hook.

Brothers Spencer and Darcy Ward grew up creating music together, influenced by their parents, grandfather and of course, The Beatles. After spending a childhood messing about with different instruments, the duo eventually delved deep into the world of studio recording.

Since their teenage years, the two have been dabbling with various bands and producing their own music. Now, in 2021, the Ward brothers are revisiting their roots and closing the book on a landmark achievement from Mother Culture’s early days.

Catch up on the latest music interviews, news and reviews here.

‘Fuzzface’ is a high octane, boppy and infectious track full of energy and passion. Originally released as a rough demo on SoundCloud in 2015, ‘Fuzzface’ garnered massive success with almost 160,000 streams. But good as the demo may be, the song’s popularity demanded a full release and Mother Culture has more than delivered.

The band’s signature electric/acoustic instrumentation is combined with a more bombastic scale, crisp mastering and a delightful sound palette that finally gives ‘Fuzzface’ the studio treatment it rightly deserves. This is impressive, given the bop was cooked up in the Ward brothers’ home studio.

“There’s a bunch of moments in the song which are pretty bombastic and random things sort of fly in and out for a second or so. There’s a lot of ear candy you might not hear consciously but it helps make you feel a certain way. It’s definitely not just four guys in a room jamming along, I think it definitely sounds bigger than that, it sounds more particular or deliberate,” says Spencer.

Despite its upbeat tone, the lyrics of ‘Fuzzface’ are raw and personal, dealing with the bitter aftermath of a significant breakup. Hindsight plays an interesting role here, as the brothers have both gone through an enormous amount of growth and development since the first demo initially released.

There’s an air of self-described “naivety” in the passion behind the lyrics but it plays wonderfully into the scale of Mother Culture’s new version, with the instrumental tone now matching the larger than life emotions on display.

“It’s quite funny looking back on it, I kind of find some of the lyrics to be a little naive, which is sort of just what happens when you’re 18 and going through your first big breakup. You feel the weight of the world crushing down on you so I was just channelling that,” Darcy says.

Like all of us, the Ward brothers found themselves in the midst of a very challenging 2020. Lockdown played a significant role in Mother Culture’s recent development, with Darcy and Spencer taking it upon themselves to use the downtime to hone their craft and develop the skills they needed to take their music to new heights.

The brothers developed a catalogue of great music during this time, culminating in the release of their debut EP, To Be Frank. Aiming to keep up their momentum, Mother Culture is set to be dropping another single sometime in July and another EP hopefully by the end of the year.

‘Fuzzface’ is out now. For more on Mother Culture, head to their Facebook and Bandcamp.