★★★★☆

There are at least two very distinct sides to Melbourne indie-punk trio Camp Cope. One is bruised and broken, while another is defiant and angry, and it’s this juxtaposition that makes their debut record so captivating.

Spawned from singer-guitarist Georgia Maq’s musical outlet for social commentary and her take on relationships, misogyny and the degradation of working life, this eight-track effort delights and demands attention in equal measure. Single ‘Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams’ is a good starting point and could read as an audacious statement that’s anti-Trump and everything he stands for, while ‘Lost (Season One)’ finds Maq railing against the middle of the road.

It’s refreshing to hear a band making statements rather than platitudes, and the singer doesn’t hold back with her often brutal lyrics. ‘Flesh And Electricity’ (“I could look at you naked and all I’d see would be anatomy / You’re just bones and insecurity, flesh and electricity to me”) is a prime example, but it’s all carried out with a vulnerability that makes you believe she’s trying to convince herself more than anyone else.

It’s not all heavy-themed Debbie Downer-ing either; pop culture and television aficionados will find much to enjoy, with sneaky references to The X-Files, Twin Peaks and Lost peppered among the barbs. Like a dowsing rod pointing to primo tuneage, Poison City Records has done it again. If all you anxious punks out there don’t get onto this, you’re stupider than I look.

Camp Cope’s self-titled album is out viaPoison City.

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