“We know what you want but we’re not going to give it to you/ ‘Cause that would be easy,” teases frontman Quan Yeomans towards the end of Dirty Pop Fantasy. It’s a line that sums up the intentions of the band’s eight studio album and their ethos since their beginnings in the ‘90s; their idea of “pop”, in case you’ve forgotten, spins mainstream conceptions upside down into addictive left-field curve balls.
Opening with the obscure instrumental ‘Brain Brain’, the first full-length track ‘Sine Wave’ breaks through the fogged distortion in quintessential ‘Gurg fashion. Roaring with charged rock, tremoring reverb and pulsating electricity, you can almost feel the Brisbane band grabbing you by the collar and shaking you back and forth.
Immediately you’ll notice Dirty Pop Fantasy’s complete lack of cohesiveness. In fact it deliberately deviates itself away from uniformity, a conscious decision that lets the veteran band fire off in criss-crossing tangents, each one as enthralling as the next.
The album constantly dances across different blends of genres, never standing still long enough to become pigeon-holed, making it a truly exciting 42 minutes.
At times Fantasy transcends into glimmering slices of VHS-textured electro, including ‘Made To Break’ and ‘Mountains’ which are built on infectious neon synths, whilst ‘Answering Machine’ and album closer ‘Fantasyland’ are rare acoustic gems that feel ornately fragile.
These moments are juxtaposed by a brand of masculine, iron-pumping alt-rock that makes up most of the 19-song tracklist. ‘Fuck You Sweetness’, ‘Bongzilla’ and ‘My Little Terrorist’ all draw back to the band’s grunge era of old which hasn’t wrinkled one bit. In 2013, ‘Gurg’s raw authenticity is still in perfect condition.
And so the record oscillates between this strange spectrum of glossy electro on one side versus testosterone rock on the other. Though the album is a so-called fantasy, its superb versatility constantly wakes you up like a persistent sleep apnoea.
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As expected with anything from Regurgitator, there’s a heavy sense of ironic humour throughout. It’s no coincidence that on an album attributing itself to pop, the most overtly pop-sounding track ‘Can’t Stop’ is a complete piss-take. “Yeah there’s something about you girl/ Exploding kittens in my heart,” goes the chorus, making it clear nothing here should be taken too seriously.
You might not even be aware of your inner dark pop fantasies, but Regurgitator’s sensational new opus will definitely awaken them.
