Perth’s The Love Junkies recently toured with British India and their debut album, Maybelene makes them sound like comfortable bedfellows.
These three mates from Perth love their good times and party-rocking tracks and we need only add some influences from Nirvana, The Pixies, Blur, and Mudhoney.
The 11 tracks clock in at 40 minutes and are sharp, sharp bursts of energy that reflects the band’s youth.
The songs are chaotic and frantic, often changing idea and style at some throwaway point, forcing you to give your attention (if the earlier punch to the head hadn’t already convinced you to).
Single, “Oxymoron” lives up to its name and sets the record up, going from dreaming about English Britpop to punk rock that’s full of self-deprecation and a badass attitude.
The guitars rumble, spit and fizz in “Broken Strings” and frontman, Mitch McDonald offers some rough-around-the-edges, raspy vocals.
The group do suffer in their slower moments. “Hurt You” is a ballad that will make you want to drown your sorrows to avoid the cringeworthy lyrics but by the time “In Our Sleep” kicks in with its resplendent catchiness you won’t care. Ditto, “Black Sheep Blues” that screams Black Keys-induced, blues rock and psychotherapy.
Maybelene may not be about reinventing the rock wheels but The Love Junkies have still managed to craft fat, melodic songs that are equally ragged, restless and chaotic.
A raw and sweaty debut, Maybelene proves the group are ones to watch and not just because they can convincingly snarl their way through In Utero.
