Fabulous Diamonds 'SevenSongs' Album Launch Tour

Wed 23rd Jul, 2008 in Local News

Seconds wasted are seconds lost into the ether. The debut album Seven Songs from Melbourne’s Fabulous Diamonds clocks in at a tidy 24 minutes. Seven untitled songs, polished from the duo’s 2007 live set. With roots planted firmly in DIY and the 21st century renaissance of the Melbourne underground, Fabulous Diamonds have become a firm live favorite in that city, regularly sharing stages and mindsets with the likes of My Disco, Eddie Current Suppression Ring and KES Band.

A façade of structure and control is presented by the steadiness with which self-taught percussionist Nisa Venerosa holds together the rhythm part of the equation: caught somewhere between first-wave drum machines and the decidedly non-rock drumming of Moe Tucker. Parallel, sits Jarrod Zlatic with a dissection and reassembly of dense, delay-drenched, aural textures conjured by way of electric organ and alto sax. Seven Songs (recorded by Ben Andrews/My Disco) has seen the duo expand on the minimalism of their early recordings, embellishing their sound with all manner of instrumentation – harmonium, tapes, piano, treated percussion.

With Zlatic an obsessive hunter and gatherer of rare and wonderful vinyl, Fabulous Diamonds have sourced an aesthetic and sound in early experimental outfits from Australia, the US and Europe. In spite of an often assumed nostalgia and zen-like minimalism, the duo’s music is forward looking and unlike anything this country has seen for quite some time.

So far has the mystery of the group spread that Seven Songs has also seen a vinyl release on iconic US label Stiltbreeze. Having spent the northern summer on a 30 date tour across the US with underground buzz-bands Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horseshit, Fabulous Diamonds are finally returning to Perth in August, fresh album in hand.