On their third LP, Urban Cowboy, Melbourne garage rock band Drunk Mums establish themselves as the contemporary benchmark of what was once known as garage rock.
Rather than mimic Australia’s seminal rock bands, like the way Airbourne have built a career in essentially imitating AC/DC, The ‘Drunkies’ elicit the actual environment that one associates with Aussie rock, a pub.
When listening to ‘Urban Cowboy’ the image of a bloke in a flannel shirt sitting in the beer garden of The Tote trying, and failing to express their love surfaces: “I need a woman that can set me right / unless I’m wrong it’s you.”
A feature of Drunk Mums’ sound that sets them apart is their three songwriters – Dean Whitby, Adam Ritchie, Jake Doyle – who in turn take lead vocals on their respective songs.
However, unlike Big Titty Trippin (2012) and Gone Troppo (2015) it’s much harder to pick who wrote each song as the band’s songwriting chemistry has refined.
9/10
