The Preytells - FloodSongs / June Songs

Tue 22nd Sep, 2009 in Music Reviews

Having won the Australian National Campus Band Competition in 2005,
received a nomination for a WAMi award in 2008 and played on a string of festival lineups, The Preytells are a band with a strong pedigree. They’ve had no trouble producing quality in the past but this record gives us a fair bit of quantity to boot, weighing in at 14 tracks plus an additional hidden song at the end of the last track.

Flood songs / June Songs kicks off with Shout a neat blend of
delicate vocals and piano set against harsh guitars and thunderous
drums. The song showcases The Preytells’ knack for creating great pop music with a slightly abrasive edge to it. From here on in we’re
bombarded with short snappy pop numbers, each one with it’s own unique flavour, one moment sunny 60’s pop complete with 12 string guitars, the next minute it’s dirty indie with overdriven guitars and Lou Reed style vocals.

Stand out track Sacramento grabs the listener with its schizophrenic
bass line and pounding drums. It’s great that the music does so well
to capture the subject matter, the detuned guitar coupled with Will
Tell’s rambling vocals creates an atmospheric track full of
menace.

The production’s very good considering that the album has been
recorded at home by the band, if anything the lack of studio polish
gives the tracks a nice lo-fi feel that complements the songs
perfectly. That’s not to say that they’ve not got an eye for detail,
there are plenty of sounds and textures to help the songs stand out
from one another.

There’s really too much going on here to sum up the album, they’ve covered a lot of bases and with each repeat listen there’s something new and interesting to get into.