Melbourne duo Big Scary are well and truly back from their Vacation; the two-pieces last record which earned the band a Triple J Award ‘Album of the Year’ award nomination (as well as being amongst Richard Kingsmill’s personal Top 10 of that year) as well as allowing the outfit to make in-roads overseas at Texas’ SXSW, their first headline show in New York, and representing Australia at Mumbai’s Music Connects conference in India.
Since then, the pair have been steadily working at their new studio-come-headquarters Mixed Business on a brand new studio album, Not Art, which is due for release in Australia and New Zealand this Friday.
But for those of you who can’t wait just a few more days, the band have offered up a stream online of the album in its entirety, which we have embedded below for your listening pleasure.
The two-piece also recently announced they will be the first Australian act to sign with US label Barsuk Records, home to Death Cab for Cutie, Menomena, Phantogram and Ra Ra Riot. The multi-album deal will see the Seattle based indie represent Big Scary in North/South America, with Not Art scheduled to be released in these territories on 17 September, 2013.
At its core, Not Art reflects upon the relationship between the artist and their art. Stemming from Tom Iansek (vox, guitar, piano) and Jo Syme’s (drums, backing vox) reaction to being labelled as “artists”, Not Art contemplates the artist’s journey, their search for meaning and their interpretation and recycling of other’s art to help them make sense of their own.
“In a nutshell, it’s not that Not Art isn’t art, it’s just that creating art wasn’t the goal of this album,” says Tom Iansek. “Thoughts of creating something artful, even something original or catchy were removed from the process.”
While hip-hop has been cited as a major influence on Big Scary’s song writing and production on Not Art, an homage to Bruce Springsteen, DJ Shadow and Kanye West can also be heard on the LP. With contributions from guest bassists Ted O’Neil (The Vasco Era) and Graham Ritchie (Emma Louise), gospel choirs and musical genius Tom Elmhirst, the amalgam of sonic influences has resulted in a stunning sophomore release showcasing Big Scary’s unique sound.
