An air of mystery surrounds this latest release from Indented Head. When writing a review it is handy to be able to pinpoint the overall sonic offering into one or two genres to make it nice and clear to readers as to what they will be listening to. However, with this newest LP I don’t believe it’s quite that easy. I could generalize it and call it Indie-Rock or alternative but that would probably be a disservice.
The one thing that I can say with certainty about Stemming The Floral Tide is that it is a new album from Melbourne/Naarm based artist Alex Fairbridge, who writes and releases music under the guise of Indented Head. As to what you can expect to hear from this album, that is a loaded question. It does hold a lot of staples of the Indie Rock genre; however, it has a far more layered texture of atmospheric instrumentals. The straight drum beat that can be found in a large array of Indie songs (thanks to Is This It by The Strokes) are accompanied by a backing of synthesizer and a vocal sound that drifts between a style that could be attributed to Post Punk or even Psych Rock. There is an incredible arrangement of sounds in this album that will lend itself to a lot of different listeners.
If there was another band id directly link Indented Heads sound to it would be The Voidz. A band that effortlessly mixes in a a diverse range of contemporary genres to form something fresh. The ability that Indented Head has to throw so many genres at you at once while making it feel completely natural is perhaps its biggest strength. Take the LP's opening track The Grain for example. A bouncy and catchy track that employs many pop elements to immediately hook you into the album, however the odd timed changes and layered guitars suggests to the listener that a lot more is to come. This is reinforced by another standout Cemetery Blonde. The odd timed transitions are even more apparent and when isolated could pass as a late 90's Math Rock song. The chaotic nature however is contrasted by some pretty clean production that makes these incredible transitions feel extremely smooth.
If all of these track descriptions intrigue you then we definitely recommend you checking this out because there are 7 more tracks other than The Grain and Cemetery Blonde that offer even more sonic diversity and excitement.
Check it out on Spotify, Apple Music or Band Camp!
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