After being nominated for the Unearthed J Award back in 2008, the Adelaide four-piece took the natural next step: they just about dropped off the radar altogether. They took off to record in the States, and managed to pick up a national support for The Smashing Pumpkins on their last Australian tour. Now they’ve released ‘Matchsticks’, the title track from their soon to be released EP, displaying the sound they’ve settled into and the progress they’ve made away from the watchful eye of the music media.

City Riots – Matchsticks by MuchoBravado

They’re probably the only non-bubblegum band to embrace the term, ‘pop’, on their press release of late, and it just makes you like this song all the more. It’s got sweet, gnawing hooks and the requisite “baby” repetition, but just when you think it’s teetering on the cliché, out come lyrics like “our bodies’ silhouettes / matchsticks ready to spark”. City Riots, you’ve come a long way, baby.

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