The new project of Australian artist Julia McFarlane. J McFarlane Reality Guest ,As a member of the group The Twerps, McFarlane has traversed guitar-centric, melodic pop music for some years while honing a highly unique, personal musical language. ‘Ta Da’ is the first recorded unveiling of McFarlane’s affecting, oblique songwriting panache. Originally released in her native Australia on Hobbies Galore, ‘Ta Da’ will be released worldwide by Night School Records in June 2019. ‘Ta Da’ showcases McFarlane’s songwriting immersed in psychedelic music and synths.
It’s a brilliant, deft concoction swimming in Young Marble Giants-type minimalism washed with bare pop and harmony similar to Kevin Ayers making sense of a Melbourne suburb full of faces half-recognised in the blanching sun. McFarlane’s vocal is straight forward, lyrically conversational but still not completely in focus, a surreal kitchen sink drama filtered through a dream where everything is in an unusual place. Reality Guest similarly draws on BBC Radiophonic Workshop-style noise synths, flute solos, palm-muted guitar and a sleepy, psychedelic tone that drifts away into the sunset, simple and direct.
From the album TA DA, available though Night School Records
The Fat Angel Sings 