The shift from Perth to Melbourne for Split Seconds is our gain as well as theirs – it may be getting overcrowded in our fair city, but there’s always room for more well-crafted melodic pop. If you’ve been lured by the band’s well-chosen singles, All You Gotta Do and Top Floor, you’ll find plenty more from where they came from on their ten-track debut album, You’ll Turn Into Me.
Despite the band being compared to a handful of other Aussie wordsmiths, there’s a rather British feel to the lyrics of vocalist Sean Pollard. Take this from the closing title track for example: “Oliver, I don’t have the words to say how disappointed I am/I don’t have the wherewithal to understand your social studies.” There’s a theme of youth and aging throughout the album, but Sean Pollard can often come across as a bemused, middle-aged school teacher.
Lyrically, he’s at his best when appealing to lost ladies. Maiden Name is an affecting song that laments the sands of time and benefits from a pretty vocal from Felicity Groom. The more uptempo She Makes Her Own Clothes follows a lady of the night, and when Pollard promises “I’ll be the good man,”, you can’t help but have complete faith in him. Whatever his lyrical bent, he sure knows his way around a good pop song.
BY CHRIS GIRDLER
Best Track: All You Gotta Do
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Rain On The Humming Wire THE PANICS, Bows And Arrows THE WALKMEN
In A Word: Heroic
