THE STRESS OF LEISURE album FAUX WAVE on CD

For Faux Wave, the Brisbane four-piece decamped to Melbourne to record over five days in February — just before Covid-19 took hold of the world. The album finds the band activating their hot core, with the pre-lockdown tension of faux-everything pervading everything. The band was really excited to work with John Lee (Laura Jean, Lost Animal, Bananagun) at Phaedra Studios, as his name kept popping up on Australian records well-loved by the group.

Since their 2017 release, Eruption Bounce, the quartet has traversed Australia supporting friends Regurgitator and Custard on national tours. Along the way, they’ve also shared the stage with Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds, Shonen Knife, and Pavement co-founder Spiral Stairs. They’ve constantly gigged Brisbane and beyond.

Faux Wave is a term unique to The Stress of Leisure. The music isn’t punk, it isn’t entirely post-punk, it isn’t new wave or indeed no wave; it is Faux Wave. Hypercapitalism distilled down to 10 tracks, the futility palpable. Ian Powne (guitars/vocals) and Pascalle Burton (keys/synths) work their idiosyncratic majestic on top of a hotbed provided by the (yet to be proclaimed) best rhythm section in Oceania, Jane Elliott (bass) and Jessica Moore (drums). Resistance is unnecessary to propulsive tracks, such as Your Type Of Music and Banker on TV, which simultaneously illustrate how perfectly this oddly foursome tick. Silent Partner Jam, written prior to the pandemic, could prove to be an ode to 2020, with its dark esoteric grandeur.