Melbourne group Shepparton Airplane first caught my ear when they exploded right into my face with their 2018 sophomore LP Almurta, then quickly followed by a 2020 album that just didn’t hit quite as hard for me – ambitious, sure, but also feeling kinda forced, like it’s just been trying a bit too hard. After a radio silence of five years, just when the group had basically dropped off my radar, whe unexpectedly get to witness what is without doubt their most mature, accomplished record to date. Now their sound somewhere inbetween the realms of post punk, noise rock and postcore has always felt a bit old-fashioned, more comfortably fitting in the late 2000s to late-2010s, but that’s also part of their charm, delightfully oldschool i’ll say and certainly in the same league with some of the best groups said era had to offer like Sleepies, Bench Press, Diät, Batpiss, Rank/Xerox, the early works of USA Nails, Protomartyr and Gotobeds to name just a few… yeah even a slight vibe of Open Your Heart-era The Men may be hidden there in tunes like Stereo Youth. Anyway, each song on here is an elaborate, self-contained post punk drama taking its sweet time to unfold but never failing to lead straight into a rich and spectacular payoff.
