“It didn’t occur to us to try and replicate anything or avoid any mistakes, you’ve just got to move on, you do something different and you don’t question that because you know in the back of your head to do anything you’ve done before is really boring, it’s kind of like repellent, that whole idea.”
In just a few sentences, guitarist Rupert Edwards answers the question on every Dick Diver’s fan’s lips, and that is no, Melbourne, Florida the local quartet’s third studio LP will not be the same as the Aussie classic, Calendar Days – but don’t worry, it’s better.
This is a gaudy statement to make against an album that is treasured by so many more fans than Dick Diver probably realise, but rest assured, once you’ve spun this instrumentally diverse yet somehow accessible pop album, you’ll nod with us.
Melbourne, Florida is unequivocally a giant leap forward for Dick Diver, Edwards frequently mentioning how important the notion of diversity was for the band in piecing together the album, as well as leaving behind singer-songwriter ideals.
The band have certainly achieved this, the record spinning as one very much holistic piece of output that wouldn’t overly make sense if you were to cherry-pick tracks to listen to at random.
December of 2014 marked the first taste of the new album, the sun-soaked happy-go-lucky ‘Waste The Alphabet’ which has dizzily spun out of control on alternative radio as well as sound-tracking the Aussie summer just passed.
The second track to surface was Melbourne, Florida’s pinnacle of grandiose, the slow-burning jangle-pop anthem, ‘Tearing The Posters Down’.
From our initial listen we thought the four-piece were dabbling in the worlds of the famed Dunedin sound of southern New Zealand, the drawn out introduction that guests bubbling bass vibrations and watery guitar tones was excitedly reminiscent of something that could easily posit itself on indie rock Kiwi label, Flying Nun, home to the likes of The Clean.
Edwards, however, was quick to dispel any direct influence of the Dunedin Sound on the stellar track, “I love those bands but they definitely weren’t on my radar” he said.
Explaining that ‘Tearing The Posters Down’ was more complex than the basic DIY approach of a Flying Nun release, he continued, “there’s something awesome about the simplicity and the primitive approach that The Clean take, but I didn’t want to be simple or primitive at all with this record.”
Edwards noted that at the time of writing Melbourne, Florida, he was heavily into jazz, namely the golden trio of Miles Davis’ Cookin’, Playin’ and Workin’ as well as John Coltrane’s essential My Favourite Things, these staple pieces of vinyl influencing the new album.
“I guess a lot of jazz is more abstract than kind of like singer-songwriter type music and I definitely wanted this record to be more abstract and more complex than a singer-songwriter album,” he said “I feel kind of a bit allergic to now.”
That’s not to say Melbourne, Florida is a turning-point where Dick Diver evolve into a jazz quartet, however the band most certainly display their aptitude for complex compositions, whilst somehow still remaining entirely accessible to almost any indie-pop ears.
Edwards noted of two tracks in particular that he was really proud of, the first is ‘Leftovers’, a shining example of the band’s complex and abstract ambitions turned into action.
Penned and sung by drummer/vocalist Steph Hughes, the song akin to the rising sun, slowly introduces one sonic shade of the track after another. First, a meandering guitar, followed closely by melting horns, a steady building percussion beat before Hughes’ vocals burn through the wall of sound, the entire ensemble seamlessly working in glorious unity.
The second beat the guitarist provided a proud nod to was ‘% Points’, a song Al Mckay wrote, “because it’s so different to anything we’ve done before”.
Perhaps the most perfectly produced beat on Melbourne, Florida, ‘% Points’ is charged by simple palm-mutes with acoustic twangs and finger clicks dubbed over the top, with a thick layer of dream-pop atmospherics gradually painting over the track as dual vocalists work in harmony, icily repeating “somewhere anywhere you don’t care/you don’t care/you don’t care/you don’t care/you don’t wanna know, you don’t care.”
It’s impossible to ignore both the saxophone and trumpet, both instruments really providing Melbourne, Florida with it’s unique edge over other indie rock albums.
Edwards couldn’t suppress his admiration for the guest brass performers on the album, “Gus and Oscar who played the horns on the record, they’re like really really good players, like classically trained and have been playing for a long time.”
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“We’d give them a rough idea of what we were going for or not even that and they would invariably live up to that and often exceed it, we were blown away by their ridiculous skill, it’s nothing like any of us can do on any instrument, that was fun to play with and to be able utilised that was pretty great” he said.
Melbourne, Florida is also perfectly centred by a pretty one and-a-half minute interlude, lead by tiptoeing piano progressions, a hearty back and forth rhythm and soft horns that comfortably play only as backing to the beautiful keys, ‘Resist’.
Noting of piano, ‘Private Number’ is the record’s indie-pop crown jewel that is lead solely by powerful key strokes that are only ever matched by the painstakingly real vocals who hauntingly harmonise “and each year you the next/one is the future/and then you’re there/the new result you can’t recall/or just avoid like a private number”.
It’s not until the almost book end of Melbourne, Florida that the unsuspecting highlight of Dick Diver’s third record is revealed, the “less is more” stoke of brilliance, ‘Blue Time’.
Championed by a basic steely 12-string chord progression and the faintest of brooding synthesisers to add just enough cold ambience, Dick Diver play a game of vocal tag in the verses, seamlessly swapping from red light to green light, before joining forces in the apex of the four and-a-half minute throw with a fading and bone-chilling exhalation of the words “blue time”.
On Melbourne, Florida, Dick Diver prove their talent, collectively pushing their own creative boundaries as they refuse to be pigeon-holed with one particular sound, producing a sublime 12-track record that cements them a force not only in Australia’s music scene, but the world at large.
Melbourne, Florida is out today March 6th via Chapter Music, visit www.chaptermusic.com for more info.
