Party Dozen are going out all on their new album, Crime in Australia.
Announced today, the Sydney noise-rock duo’s latest will arrive this September. Kirsty Tickle (saxophone) and Jonathan Boulet (percussion) recorded, mixed, and mastered the album by themselves in their Marrickville studio.
According to the pair, Crime in Australia is split into two contrasting sides: the first half is ‘order’, offering the most digestible Party Dozen songs, while the second half is ‘disorder’, the music “becoming more unlawful, unhinged, louder, and noisier.”
Where did that album title come from?
“We began without any theme in mind, just the beginnings of some songs ideas. As we were discovering the songs for this album, each song felt more and more at home in an old cop TV series soundtrack. The crime theme quickly became apparent,” the duo explain.
Party Dozen have also released new single “The Big Man Upstairs”, which showcases a softer and sweeter side to the band’s usual sonic ruckus.
The accompanying music video, which you can watch below, might make for uncomfortable listening for anyone from a certain Australian state: the clip uses documentary footage to tell the story of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, the “hillbilly dictator” who ruled Queensland for two decades.
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“It’s a story full of such unbelievable corruption and thirst for power that feels sadly relevant to the state of the world at the moment,” Party Dozen share.
“A government rife with corruption and an inevitable explosive response of punk-rock, activism, and counter-culture. There were some very important movements happening at the time, but of course we had to focus our scope more on the music side of things. It just doesn’t seem real – a special police task force waging war on music?”
Party Dozen’s last album, The Real Work, was nominated for the 2022 Australian Music Prize. It featured a special guest turn from the one and only Nick Cave on album highlight “Macca the Mutt”.
The Real Work was preceded by 2020’s Pray for Party Dozen, which the duo broke down in greater detail for Tone Deaf upon its release.
Party Dozen’s “The Big Man Upstairs” is out now. Crime in Australia is out Friday, September 6th via GRUPO (pre-save/pre-order here).
Crime in Australia Tracklist:
- “Coup de Gronk”
- “Wake in Might”
- “Money & the Drugs”
- “Les Crimes”
- “The Big Man Upstairs”
- “Judge Hammer”
- “Bad News Department”
- “The Righteous Front”
- “Piss on Earth”
- “Jon’s International Marketplace”
