One of our favourite Sydney bands Day Ravies recently released their second full length LP titled Liminal Zones (out via Strange Pursuits), and like their stunning 2013 debut LP Tussle they’ve continued to produce their unique brand of winning indie-pop that flits joyously between influences and modes.
Following on from their acclaimed debut, Liminal Zones sees each of the four members (Lani Crooks, Caroline de Dear, Matt Neville and Sam Wilkinson) contribute songs, resulting in a fresh collection of tracks that guide us through band’s trademark sonic cocktail of ‘80s and ‘90s indie-pop, synth pop, psych and college rock. Live, Day Ravies are a vibrant, fuzz-full onslaught, of guitars, synthesizers and heady harmonies.
To celebrate the release of the new record and upcoming shows (dates below) the band have given us a track by track run down of the new LP which you can stream and read below. If you like what you hear be sure to pop by Strange Pursuits to grab a copy of the record.
Fake Beach
I wrote this after playing a show in Brisbane. It’s about the total ectasy of drunkenly discovering their fake beach late at night and jumping right in. An ode to good/bad swimming holes and not caring what people think. (Lani)
Couple Days
It’s about clocking in to a 9 to 5 job and clocking out when you’re in your sixties and wondering what happened to your life. I’ve seen a lot of friends get real ‘jobs’ and have security but always seem run down and forget about doing the things they love. There’s a brief reference to our friend peter and the ongoing debate about whether on not he is accident prone. (Sam)
This Side of the Fence
This one’s super literal in that it’s about our scary nextdoor neighbour. He’s a godfearing, garden gnome-loving, line-dancing drunk whose bad side you do not want to get on. (Lani)
Nettle
This song was inspired by Peter Christopherson’s love for nettle tea. It was written in Istanbul during an imaginary Anatolian battle. (Caro)
Immaculate Escape
This was particularly fun to track and mix. When we tracked the live snare and listened back through the studio monitors, we all thought ‘holy hell, this is danceable! Our music can actually be dancey!’ That was nice. There’s also several tracks of harmonies, and swathes of chorus on the bass. (Lani)
Skewed
Probably the oldest song and had been discarded for a while until Lani found my old demo and reworked it, sorta ended up having some Tubeway Army vibes. Circling jobs in the newspaper classifieds in the Shire is pretty bleak. (Sam)
Enter The Bee
A synth ditty by Lani. Sam and Lani recorded it on four track, it sounded nice with the tape sizzle.
Hickford Whizz
I tried to squeeze a few ideas into this one and keep it as a little pop package. Mainly about going to a wedding where it was apparent that all of my school buddies had ‘grown up’ etc as well as having a wardrobe malfunction in borrowed slacks. (Sam)
Halfway up a Hill
This song is about false starts, unsuccessful attempts and defeat. But it’s ok, it’s more of a happy kind of hopelessness. (Caro)
Steamed
Nev wrote the music for this and I did the vocals. Its a weird murder ballad about a news article I read in NZ, about a woman who stabbed her husband to death, and his family were fairly cool about it all because he’d apparently been a fair pain in the butt. (Lani)
Pulse Check
It’s about being too miserable to move and needing someone to come ‘check ya pulse’. Mixing this was pretty interesting. There’s some pretty ridiculous Dino Jr-esque fuzz punishment in the outro. (Nev)
March Comes Around
Probably the last thing to be written for the album. The title came from my frustration of seeing the month of March pass twice during the recording of this album. After losing a hard drive with heaps of work we had to re-record and mix a bunch of songs. This was our first time using clarinet on a recording. (Sam)
Binkies
‘Binkies’ are a what rabbits do when they are most excited. Looks like they lose control of themselves for a second and jump for joy. The song has nothing to do with that but the working title stuck. (Sam)
‘Liminal Zones’ Tour Dates
Friday October 9 – The Bearded Lady, Brisbane
Thursday October 15 – Phoenix, Canberra
Friday October 16 – Rad Bar, Wollongong
Friday October 23 – The Tote, Melbourne
Saturday October 24 – The Metro, Adelaide
Friday November 6 – The Roxbury Glebe, Sydney
Saturday November 14 – The Grand Poobah, Hobart
