“Safety Matches” by Deafcult (2015, from the Deafcult EP).
Deafcult is a shoegaze/noise pop sextet from Brisbane. They formed in January of this year, and their members have come from other Brisbane bands. Most notably, vocalist Innez Tulloch comes from the glorious shoegaze outfit Roku Music, who released a excellent Australian album of 2014,
Not long after their formation, Deafcult released their self-titled debut EP on May 18th. They’ve turned a lot of heads and a lot of people are ecstatic that another shoegazing band has come out of Brisbane to interrupt the long parade of Australian shoegaze torchbearers from Melbourne. I don’t know anything else about this band. I learned about them recently today because of an email newsletter I’m subscribed which focuses on Australian indie music. If you’re not already subscribed to Happy check the blog out its great stuff. They’ve an invaluable resource and a conduit to loads of good Aussie and Kiwi music. Every song on Deafcult is amazing, It’s got all the fuzz and the dreaminess and the coed vocals. It’s clear that there’s some heavy influence from Slowdive.
There’s a slower, softer instrumental bit that runs from 1:15 to 1:58, and I really like it. It’s gentle, and lovely, and wrapped in bubble wrap, and floating in space. Then everything comes back in and the fuzz and delay get heavier, and you don’t even realize how much noise they’re making.
Above all, though, it’s the coed vocal harmonies. It’s quite a bit like Halstead and Goswell. For me, those harmonies are the star of the show. The glorious noise is an added bonus. Hopefully this newly formed band has a lot more like this in the future. For now, you can get a digital download of Deafcult at Bandcamp by naming your price
The Fat Angel Sings 