In case you missed the memo, much-loved Melbourne band Augie March are no longer one of Australia’s most missed musical entities, but an active unit once more, with a brand new album set for release before the year is out.
Today we get to hear the sounds that breaks Augie March’s five year silence, in the form of ‘After The Crack Up’, taken from the band’s forthcoming fifth studio album.
Produced by chief singer-songwriter Glenn Richards and mixed by long-term collaborator Paul McKercher, the tune showcases everything Augie March fans have been aching for in their absence: lilting melodies coursing through rich yet rustic instrumental backings and Richards’ trademark literary references (the song is named after F. Scott Fitzgerald’s confessionals) which skewer concepts of male heroism, and its failure. Complete with a high-brow reading of Henry Lawson’s poetry.
With its lulling ‘la la las’ offering a simple entry point to considerably dense lyrical territory, ‘After The Crack Up’ presents a leisurely march back into the comforting arms of Augie March. It’s a splendid little taste of the band’s first new collection of material since 2008’s (since fittingly titled) album, Watch Me Disappear and their subsequent ‘indefinite hiatus’ the following year. Now “liberated” of their previous record label, and invigorated by the freedom, we can’t wait to hear what comes after ‘After The Crack Up’.
