Over the past three years or so, I’ve written quite a bit about the Gold Coast, Australia-based indie rock sextet and JOVM mainstay act, FAIRCHILD. And during that period, the up-and-coming Australian act have released three EPs with singles “Relevance” and “Start Again” landing on Spotify’s Viral 50 and FMQB SubModern Charts in the US. Adding to a growing national and international profile, the band comprised of siblings Adam Lyons (vocals) and Nathan Lyons (keys), along with Tim Voeten (guitar), Patrick Huerto (guitar), Tommy Davies (bass) and James Alexander (drums) have toured across Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and North America, including showcases during Canadian Music Week and Music Maters Live, and while on tour in the UK they’ve opened for The Human League and MOTHXR.
Up until relatively recently, a year or so had passed since I had last written about them; however, as it turned out, the past year has been an incredibly busy year for the sextet: After spending an intense two year period in Manchester, UK where they focused on performing, touring and finishing their highly-anticipated Catherine Marks-produced full-length debut So Long and Thank You, the band returned to their homeland, where they are set to share the album and the experiences that influenced the material with the world. Now, as you may recall, album title track “So Long and Thank You,” was written after the death of guitarist Tim Voeten’s father, and reportedly the song is meant to show the sextet’s gratitude for all of the people they’ve had in their lives, especially those who have loved, supported and sometimes left them. As the band’s Voeten explained in press notes “‘So Long and Thank You’ was written in different sections, by different members of the band, but with the same person in mind — my father. When I hear this song, of course I think about my Dad, but I also remember that it helped cement in me my love for making music with these people. During those long nights in the studio, I knew it was okay to not be okay. I’d show up with some half-baked idea and we’d have a few drinks and mess around with it. I never knew one of those half-baked ideas would become ‘So Long and Thank You.’ There isn’t a single sound on this record that can’t simply be put down to enjoying writing music with your friends.”
So Long and Thank You‘s latest single “High As A Kite” will continue a lengthy strength of hook-laden, arena rock-friendly synth rock/indie rock-leaning pop with an overwhelmingly forceful earnestness; however, there’s one difference as the new single nods at the atmospherics of some of their previous singles but paired with a sinuous bass line and Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar. And much like the preceding single, the material is deeply influenced from the soaring highs and crushing lows of love and profound loss, of friendships gained and lost — and they do so with an swaggering self-assuredness beyond their relative youth as a band and as musicians; but perhaps more important it will further cement the band’s reputation for crafting incredibly catchy hooks.