The Brag

Indie Album Of The Week: The Holidays
Post Paradise
Liberation
****

I love pretty much everything about this record. It could be Sydney’s answer to chill-wave, but better. It could be a much-needed injection of calm into the frenetic indie pop that’s been circulating our airwaves of late. It could be Paul Simon on Bondi Beach. What Post Paradise is, amongst all of these things, is a highly accomplished record that is an absolute pleasure to listen to.

From the rolling steel-drums that open ‘Heavy Feathers’ through to the bongo refrain of ‘Golden Sky’, The Holidays snatch the best licks from foreign climes and blend them seamlessly with their own delightfully blissed-out tunes. The shimmering haze that washes over this record comes care of Tony Espie (Cut Copy, Avalanches), a man who has made daydreams a viable template for music production. But technical wizardry is only as good as the music itself – and the music here is really, really good.

When you’ve spent as much time kicking around the traps as this band has, you learn how to play to your strengths. Those come in the twin form of the arcing vocals of Simon Jones and the swooping guitars of Will Magnus, who mark out The Holidays’ sound with style and substance.

And though it’s tempting to be seduced by the mountains of percussion which pour in on ‘Moonlight Hours’ and ‘Conga’, tracks like ‘Indian Summer Anniversary’ – a pure, simple stunner – show that this is a band for which rhythmic tricks are just an added bonus. For a debut, this is seriously impressive, both technically and aurally. Now hit play and take me back to Senegal.

Like I’ve alwaays said, Phil Collins never went out of style.

Jonno Seidler