Live Review: Body Type return with "pop-rock tantrum", 'Arrow'
Body Type have announced their signing to Inertia and Partisan by sharing 'Arrow', proving that label backing that won't dilute their artistic vision.
Sydney four-piece BODY TYPE have just announced their signing to Inertia Music and Partisan Records, and to celebrate, the foursome have unleashed their new single, ‘Arrow’, a self-described “pop-rock tantrum”, alongside its accompanying video.
Of the track, vocalist and bassist GEORGIA WILKINSON-DERUMS says that: “‘Arrow’ is about the prick of love. It’s about being stung and the pleasure and pain that accompany being struck by cupid’s arrow. For me, the song has always carried the power of female physicality in performance, it’s where I see Body Type get a little more aggressive, a little more dramatic.” More boisterous than their previous, dream-pop-indebted singles, ‘Arrow’ envelops you within Body Type’s brand of scuzz-rock by channeling the bittersweet sting of love through fuzzy, rolling guitar chords and angsty dual lead vocals, while offsetting this sting with glimmering jangle-pop guitar licks and a looping, infectious bass line.
The visuals, directed by MADELEINE PURDY, pay homage to Marina Abramovic and Ulay’s 1980 performance piece, ‘Rest Energy’, using the homage as a spiritual point of inspiration to explore similar themes of the tension between bodies inherent to a relationship. Playfully fading in and out of a lo-fi dreamscape full of pastel sunset clouds, the band members materialise in the form of larger-than-life spectres floating atop a sea of confused bystanders. In a clever but subtle subversion of normative representations of power dynamics in sexual and romantic relationships, the four members of Body Type all appear as cupids selecting out spectators on the ground, aiming and firing off their arrows as they take control of their own fate.
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For a band who pride themselves on a steadfast DIY ethos, the visuals, which tap into the same lo-fi aesthetics of previous singles ‘Silver’ and ‘Ludlow’, prove Inertia and Partisan as the right home for Body Type with a promising indication that their signing is not going to dilute the foursome’s artistic identity or diminish their creative control. This is hardly surprising, given the respective labels' progressive reputations and Body Type’s own focus on community building. In Inertia and Partisan, it appears as though Body Type have not only found a family, but have also found fertile grounds for major label growth without sacrificing the roots of their own artistry and sense of identity.
You can catch Body Type supporting ALEX CAMERON on his headline national tour in April and May - find all the tickets and details below:
Thursday, 26th April - The Foundry, Brisbane (SOLD OUT)
Sunday, 29th April - Manning Bar, Sydney
Wednesday, 2nd May - Amplifier, Perth
Thursday, 3rd May - Croxton Bandroom, Melbourne
IMAGE: Dakota Gordan
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