An eclectic rock success, Bollard‘s new album HEAT moves between post-punk steadiness, dreamy reflections, and bursts of full-bodied rock fervor. The Melbourne band’s third full-length builds on the fuzzed-out character of earlier releases with more intricate production, layered instrumentation and vocals, melodic guitar arrangements, and flashes of off-kilter humor, while its sequencing guides listeners through a variety of emotional realms.
A rumbling, buzzing guitar presence pairs with a quick percussive pit-pattering as “GROUCHO” begins, setting the album into intriguing motion. A debonair vocal presence emerges alongside, melding well with the grimy, industrial smatterings of soaring electric guitar in the background. A gorgeous shift takes hold at the one-minute turn, where the vocals’ “when the music stops” declaration fuses with a hypnotic bass drive and twinkling keys, before moving back into delectably wailing guitars. The track’s soundscape is wonderfully immersive, and exemplary of a band that showcases an ability for both brooding, nocturnal mystique and more radiant hookiness throughout the record.
Ensuing track “Danish” finds an absorbing middle ground between dreaminess and ardor, the latter reflected in a series of expressively free-flowing guitar work, reminding fondly of The War on Drugs with the interplay of lush synth pads and contemplative-to-fierce vocal changes. Next up, “Come Apart” is especially riveting in its emotive vocal layering, where ghostly reflections navigate alongside a somber-sounding lead vocal; the introspective atmosphere is stellar here. “Sweet Tooth” then showcases Bollard’s capacity for satiating structural builds; its initial post-punk bass movements and “heart wants what it can’t have” admissions surge toward a sequence of whirring guitar tones and eerie synth adornments, making for another fantastic listening experience.
A darker, enjoyably foreboding epic, “Tip of the Tongue” traverses a spacious rhythm section and angular, twangy guitars as meditative, visceral vocals venture seamlessly alongside. Resembling a mixture of Wire, Interpol, and King Krule in its gripping vocal ascent and moody guitar crawls, its production revels in a late-night post-punk aura. Another success, “Hunter Valley” embraces the rhythmic side of things, as grooving bass and click-clacking rhythms combine with haunting vocal flourishes and spacey keys. Second-half guitar additions and distant-sounding vocal entrancement crafts a culmination beautifully of later-era Talk Talk. Striking in its ascent from lo-fi haze to bursting rock grandeur, album finale “Lifeline” is a wholly satisfying send-off, unleashing one of the album’s heaviest moments in its final minute, and excellently so. Full of replay-inducing moments and dynamic, textured rock allure, HEAT is an excellent full-length from Bollard.
