After having spent just a few seconds with Brisbane, Queensland indie/punk trio People Mover’s new single – entitled Habit – it’s pretty clear that comparisons to fellow antipodean acts The Beths’ and Courtney Barnett are going to be inevitable, so let’s get them out of the way, right off the bat. Yes, there’s more than a whiff of Courtney’s laconic vocal style, and the accent is reminiscent of Elizabeth Stokes’ (despite being an Aussie one and not a Kiwi one). But there’s also a bunch of other stuff at play here. In fact, parts of the melody evoke memories of Nirvana’s classic Nevermind tracks, such as Lithium and Drain You, and the rhythm section has an almost post-punk feel.
After their first international show last year at East London’s renowned Shacklewell Arms as part of one of Bad Vibes’ monthly all-dayers, they release this frenetic new single – their first new music in almost 3 years. An examination of routine and the urge to break away from it, the band’s guitarist and songwriter, Lu, says: “It’s about a sense of excitement for things to change, but the gut feeling that this might be as good as it gets”.
Recorded by Ben Speight at Plutonium Records and mastered by Mikey Young, Habit is the first single off the band’s forthcoming debut album – Cane Trash – scheduled for release later this year.
Written by Kinda Grizzly
