Live Review: City Calm Down 'Rabbit Run'

This is something a little different from our usual beat-focused offerings, but don’t let that put you off – CITY CALM DOWN’s latest release is a welcome and memorable number that will amp you up in a wholly organic way.

Sounding something quite like Gang of Youths, LCD Soundsystem or Bloc Party via a throwback to Joy Division, the Melbourne four piece are making electronic-inspired guitar music.

The band have released a fair few singles and an EP in 2012 called Movements, and up until now there’s been no sign of an album. You’ve still got a while to wait as it’s not officially released until the springtime, but at least the date has now been set. How exciting.

Lead singer Jack Bourke’s distinctive voice has a gravelly baritone quality that is really interesting to listen to. ‘Rabbit Run’ is the lead single from the new album and is a refreshingly melodic and uplifting track for an indie/electro band. Bourke’s low-level vocals are reflected in the drubbing bass guitar, a perfect match for the drizzly and grey weeks ahead.

The single offers up a fast tempo drumbeat that sets the unrelenting pace, as a catchy guitar hook revolves around the admittance that Bourke wants everyone to ‘leave me, I’m losing sense of it all’. It sounds like you’ve heard it before, but you want to keep listening; for me, the appeal lies predominantly in Bourke’s vocal performance, gritty and rich, kind of retro and romantic – it’s a voice that you don’t get to hear too often but which will never get tiresome.

To celebrate the single and album release (which has been three years’ in the making), I OH YOU are throwing a special headline show in Melbourne which will take place on July 10^th at Northcote Social Club. Tickets available now via Ticketscout.

'Rabbit Run' is the first single to be lifted off City Calm Down's highly anticipated debut album In A Restless House, which will be released via I OH YOU on the 11th of September, 2015.

Pre-order In A Restless House via citycalmdown.com now. CD, vinyl, digital and exclusive tees are also all available.

Words by Katie Rowley

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