Ah, The Shiny Brights. A troupe of twirling teenage fiasco, a gaggle of gauche instrument humpers, a handful of handsome indie-rock lads with a penchant for shiny objects – whichever way you choose to look them, there’s no doubt that this burgeoning Adelaide fivesome are one of SA’s most promising live acts to hit the local scene. After two years of ad hoc live shows and plenty of fan girls in between, the group have now set their sights on a bigger musical repertoire with the release of their first official EP – Let’s Not And Say We Did.
As far as Adelaide penned EPs go, the majority more often than not misses rather than hits, this one’s a real gem. With some savvy marketing and a cash splurge on a slick EP cover design (the money taken from their gig piggybank), the Shiny Brights’ first official six-track release not only looks good, but sounds good too.
Opening track Caught In A Trap introduces the bread and butter Shiny Brights; fast paced drumming, shotgun strummed A-string twangs, repetitive bass hooks and the odd group yell and hand-claps. And then there’s vocalist Wolfgang, who polishes off the whole assemble with wailed tenors and an oh-so-grown-up diction. Though questionable enough as to whether the group’s rep warrants their vocalist adopting the name of a 16th century composer, his singing does the job well enough to let such an egocentric moniker slide.
The mischievously titled Let’s Not And Say We Did takes a lighter pitch. With happy-go-lucky guitar flicks teamed with choral power chord crunches, it’s reminiscent of popular Britpop acts like The Strokes and New Yorkers Vampire Weekend. Joined by the lyrics; “Oh my love, why’s your heart still tiiiiiired,” it’s an upbeat little number with that perfect twinge of adolescent heartache.
The Con sings of similar subjects, but adopts a rollicking drum beat and bass line to tone down the indie-pop a bit. Teamed with Wolfgang’s pained wails, this works to great effect, creating undertones in the song that bring a sense of depth. It puts the song on a higher shelf than just “another indie track about chicks,” as well as being a refreshing change from the buoyancy of the other songs. And then there’s Notebook, which takes an excursion into punk with a rich burn of guitar hooks, guttural yells and mantras about not remembering the names of the girls they take on dates.
Other songs on the EP like Money’s On The Red and Electric Tigerland are well played, but nothing memorable, as they offer little else than your typical radio-friendly rock song. Yet overall the songs are tight, have a little quirk and hell, if you’ve seen one of this group’s psychotic live performances, you’ve got to hand it to them for managing to record six tracks without breaking everything in the studio from the moment they turn their amps on.
Proving that their unprecedented teenage energy extends from stage to disc, the Shiny Brights attest to be more than just your average lo-fi indie group. Though its still baby steps at this stage with the band still currently unsigned, Let’s Not And Say We Did is the perfect taster to what this band can give. And with a trip to the States around the corner in search of a record label, hopefully in the future we can look forward to an album from this Adelaide quintet – of the shiny and bright variety, of course.
