Ball Park Music’s last album, 2014’s Puddinghead, was the first album the band self-produced, setting out to make an album full of hits. It worked for them too, the rather oddly-titled album was number two on the ARIA charts, missing out on the number one spot by a mere 41 sales.
Two years later, the band are back with Every Night The Same Dream. Taking a different approach to the last record, they returned to working with producer Matt Redlich (Holy Holy, Emma Louise, Ainslie Wills), recording the album mostly live to four-track tape in a studio in regional Victoria. Whilst the process represented a back to basics approach, the album is anything but basic.
Ball Park Music have expanded their range, exploring a more experimental and at times psychedelic inspired sound, the album is full of unexpected twists and turns. The analogue recording means the sound is warm, with a wide range of instruments used to add colour, violins, flutes, choir like vocals, the guitar awash with reverb and chorus effects.
In ‘Nihilist Party Anthem’, the album’s first single, singer Sam Cromack asks the question “Baby don’t fight it, come on get excited, don’t you want to feel this way forever?” The upbeat and catchy chorus line at odds with the inspiration behind the song, written to be the antithesis to their 2011 hit ‘It’s Nice To Be Alive’. Cromack describes the song’s rather melancholy thought process; “Hey, look, I’m getting older now and I’m finding life to be weird, depressing, awful and pointless. But what can you do? Let’s just kick back and enjoy it for what it is (it’s terrible btw).”
‘Pariah’ was an early album preview before the release of the first single, and understandably took some by surprise. Running at over seven minutes, the song starts out sounding like a piano ballad, the minor chords the perfect backing for Cromack’s heartfelt and drawn out line “I’m a Pariah”. It doesn’t take long, however, before the song takes an unexpected turn, taking the listener on an epic trip, all the better when listened through headphones. The bass and drums drive the song with a fluid tempo, the effects laden guitar and synth clearly displaying the 60s and 70s psychedelic influence.
Second single ‘Whipping Boy’ begins in a 90s inspired shoe gaze dream, before the chorus takes it up a notch, the chorus repeatedly questions “Will you miss me?” accompanied by a wonderful descending guitar line. Proving yet again how good they are at writing a catchy chorus, it will surely be one of the many sing-along moments on their upcoming, and increasingly sold out, tour.
Album opener ‘Feelings’ sets the tone for what is to come with its bass heavy psych-rock sounds. ‘Leef’ begins as a 70s folk song, before it launches into a brilliant Flaming Lips inspired big outro, full of horn lines and layered vocals. ‘Peppy’ sounds like the name suggests, with upbeat funk inspired drums, before the song devolves into a Beatle-esque outro, horns and strings building the song into a wall of sound before its abrupt end. ‘Suit Yourself’ closes the album on a laid back note, the syncopated drums and synth chords giving the verse an RnB feel.
Ball Park Music’s fourth album is an impressive undertaking, particularly as it was recorded for the most part live, just the band in the studio, devoid of the usual safety nets that digital recording offers. Whilst the album is inspired by the psychedelic rock of the 60s and 70s, the bands ability to write fantastic indie-pop songs still shines through, as it has with all their releases thus far.
The album has radio friendly singles, but its finest moments are when the band are more experimental. ‘Pariah’ works because of the seemingly incongruous sections, the outro on ‘Leef’ is fantastic, even if it is disappointingly short. ‘Don’t Look At Me Like That’ is laid back folk, up beat 70s pop, and a movie soundtrack all crammed in a three-and-a-half-minute song.
Every Night The Same Dream is diverse yet coherent, epic and subtle, light and dark, beautifully sincere whilst remaining tongue in cheek. It remains to be seen whether it contains the songs that will resonate with fans as much as ‘It’s Nice To Be Alive’ or ‘She Only Loves Me When I’m There,’ but it is still classic Ball Park Music, and proves the band is willing to push the boundaries in an effort to evolve and grow.
Every Night The Same Dream is out today via Stop Start / Inertia
