there’s something in the water over on the other side of the world that has allowed the aussies to, over the course of four decades, perfect the art of a particuarly nervy, lo-fi, mid-tempo, guitar-forward punk rock that sort of blurs the divide between those decades. melbourne’s PINCH POINTS follow in that tradition on this record, with 10 nervy punk and post-punk guitar tracks topped with sarcasm-heavy, lyrics. this is definitely a record written during the pandemic, full of anxiety and angst, but with a pretty wry sense of humor about the state of the world.
songs like “Reasons to be Anxious” get me to grin with lines like “HOME IS WHERE THE WIFI IS / NAH, IT WASN’T HARD GOING INTO QUARANTINE”. there’s more to this record than sardonic sneers, though; “Am I Okay?” features a pretty lovely interplay between guitar and bass underneath lyrics reminding you (or them, or each other, or all of us) to “JUST TAKE A BREATH”.