The French Press

The last few years have seen Australia unloading a tsunami of thrilling rock bands—Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control, Chook Race—and now Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever blows to the head of the line. The band’s new EP, The French Press, will please those enthralled by the melodic sense of Yo La Tengo and wit of Pavement, and no song captures this band’s talents quite like lead-off single “Julie’s Place.” Jangling guitar and wistful longing ride the song’s crushing wave of aching hearts aimed at Julie—that lost love too sweet to shake. “Sick Bug” finds the band mining a punk rut, drunk on Stones-like swagger (“I want you, I want you, I want you!/Wanna see you smiling on a blue afternoon!”). This EP is an abbreviated glimpse at a significantly great band in the heat of its prime.