Four and a half years between drinks, The Great Divides are back with their first new single off their upcoming album (i'm sure).
Naarm indie outfit The Great Divides know a great divide when they see one. After a four-and-a-half-year break between releases, The Great Divides are finally on the other side of the gap with an upcoming onslaught of gigs, new bandmates, and – most excitingly – an album release.
The self-described ‘jumble pop’ band is beginning to make big moves on the Melbourne music scene. Gearing up to release their debut album on November 15, the incredibly titled record (i’m sure) is being brought out through Spoilsport Records. If the lead single is anything to go by, one thing that you can be sure of is the album becoming a soundtrack to the kind of perfect spring day you want to last forever.
The Great Divides
- Death of a Dog out now
- Listen here
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Death of a Dog invites its listener to lean head-first into the world that The Great Divides is building. Its gothic lyricism reaches out toward memories of hot days and sweaty skin by deep bodies of water, eucalyptus tangling through the angel hair curls of clouds above, the bush that surrounds both beckoning you to enter and warning you not to.
The tightness yet expansiveness of the single is perhaps an indicator of the exciting sonic landscapes the band is setting out to explore. Like their previous work, Death of a Dog feels in conversation with the regional roots the band sprung from. They’re honouring their history while writing a new one.
They’re traversing the divide between city and country, between isolation and claustrophobia. The Great Divides’ music doesn’t try to close the gap between any two things. It relishes in the spaces in between, in the placelessness of the divide.
Death of a Dog
Tino D’Onghia fronts the bands on guitar and vocals, with Alannah Sawyer on saxophone, guitar and vocals, Gussie Bandelli on accordion, guitar and vocals, Isi Grigoryan on viola and vocals, Dylan Bartlett on bass, Declan Blackburn on drums and Marlon Toner-McLachlan on trombone and melodica.
If you’ve seen The Great Divides play live, it almost goes without saying that the project is a friends affair. You can see it in the treasured intimacy they share on stage together. You can hear it in the infectious delight they emit in their performances. Their chemistry is comparable to their competency: seemingly effortless, unwaveringly obvious.
(i’m sure) is gearing up to be an album you’ll want to keep an eye out for. Its November 15 release comes just in time for a summer that feels just as keenly awaited.
If you can’t wait – and fair enough – you can catch The Great Divides at Spoilsport Records’ third edition of Hey, Have You Heard These Bands Yet? at the Thornbury Bowls Club this Saturday October 5 from 3pm.
You can listen to The Great Divide’s Death of a Dog here.
