First emerging out of Sydney’s inner west six years ago, self-proclaimed ‘cocky underdogs’ These
New South Whales’ third album TNSW finds the male quartet maintaining their odd art-punk
attitude while carving off tasty slabs of riffs, rhythm and rhyme.
Going many steps further than a slew of other contemporaries, These New South Whales have
also somehow found the time to make and release two online series of their own band
mockumentary through Comedy Central Australia, a hit podcast called What A Great Punk,
something called ‘What’s In The Garage?’ by Fungible Token, and a talk show titled TNSW
Tonight! They’ve also attracted the attention of former Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns, Jimmy
Barnes, and members of The Cure, DMA’s, CHAI, Dune Rats and DZ Deathrays, who have all
made various appearances in their online content.
Despite the painfully awkward Spinal Tap-ing of their niche, cult comedy, and the stylish insanity of
their live shows, These New South Whales have remained serious about their actual music, as
TNSW proves.
In its first three seconds, we hear the sound of a bottle dropping on concrete, an angry Scotsman
and Will Shepard’s filthy bass tone churning out a bouncy riff, causing the album to lurch to life with
‘Bending At The Knee’, one of its four lead singles. Vocalist Jamie Timony enters shortly after,
moaning deeply like Morrissey on quaaludes. He maintains this style through the entire album,
lending a malaise to the proceedings.
It’s interesting to hear the band’s punchy playing contrasted with Timony’s lethargic chanting,
which further imbues the album with a painfully hip aura of gothic nihilism. This approach is
reinforced with repeated lyrics like “everyone thinks they’re destined to be special”, from ‘Back To
You’.
In another twist of delicious irony, many of these songs are also upliftingly anthemic through their
catchy song structures, raw energy, and repetitive hooks – but in a modern ‘doomer’ sense, akin to
an audience of jaded millennials; These New South Whales’ target demographic. ‘Going Out Of My
Mind’, ‘Changes’, and ‘Signal Is Strong’ are key examples of this approach, whereas ‘Best Of The
Night’ and ‘That’s The Life’ display gloriously dismal descending chord patterns which demonstrate
the pseudo-goth angle.
‘Wherever I Am, There I Am’ is a minute jangly jingle, interspersed with the urban darkness of the
other tracks. Assembled interlude ‘Tartan & Chrome’ provides a brief intermission at the middle of
the album, for those who might attempt to listen to the whole thing in one go.
‘Best Of The Night’ and album closer ‘Reset Of The World’ feature two of the album’s fastest
passages. As the former thrashes from the get-go through its descending chord pattern, the latter
track honours guitarist Todd Andrews’ love of black metal by way of Frank Sweet’s blast beats and
Andrews’ six-stringed grimness under Timony’s intoning of “I demand a reset of the world…I
demand a refund for myself”.
If the themes, attitudes or musical execution of TNSW weren’t heavy enough, the album is doubly
thickened by a generous amount of compression, while still sounding smooth enough to enjoy on a
car’s sound system through the humid back streets of Newcastle.
It’ll be interesting to see what these guys do next.
• ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR LOUD ONLINE, DECEMBER 2022