Earlier this year, Melbourne’s Alex Lahey released her debut EP, “B-Grade University”, which is the kind of startlingly impressive debut that you just know is going to catch on . It’s five songs and with such super-specific lyrics which Alex normally delivers in a melodic deadpan that each one is instantly distinguishable from the rest.
Each song has a line or a hook that that gets stuck in your head right away, for one reason or another. “I went to B-Grade University and got myself an arts degree,” she sings on the chorus to opener “Ivy League.” “Let’s go out and have fun tonight / let’s go out and get drunk tonight,” goes the next song “Let’s Go Out.” It may sound simple on paper, but it sounds like a rallying cry when Alex Lahey sings it.
The best line might be the intro to “You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me.” “All I want is to have cleanskin wine, and watch Mulholland Drive with you.” Non-Australians may need to look up what cleanskin wine is, but otherwise, the same people who look forward to a night in with cheap alcohol and a hip counter-culture film are the people who are gonna dig Alex Lahey’s music. (On that note, there’s also a song on this EP called “Wes Anderson.”) Instrumentally, the EP pulls from the last two decades of indie rock. It’s punky, but mannered.
Being a wordy, deadpan indie rocker from Melbourne, Alex has of course gotten some Courtney Barnett comparisons (and while she admires Courtney’s music, she’s tired of them). I’d say she does sound a bit like Courtney sometimes, particularly on “Wes Anderson” and closing track “L-L-L-Leave Me Alone,” and this EP has me feeling about as excited as Courtney’s debut EP did. Get hip to Alex now .
Thanks to Brooklyn Vegan
The Fat Angel Sings 