Link to our Facebook
Link to our Instagram
Link to our TikTok

Live Review: 'Run Away' with Holiday Party with their latest dose of junkyard-pop

17 August 2018 | 3:23 pm | Max Lewis

Brisbane duo Holiday Party give their breezy, junkyard-pop sound a hint of melancholy with their latest track 'Run Away'.

Brisbane duo HOLIDAY PARTY have dropped their second track of 2018 with 'Run Away' - a breezy and ethereal dose of dream-pop perfect for the final days of Winter.

Holiday Party make a curious kind of music. Mixing the lo-fi, dumpster-diving sound of plunderphonics with the equally lo-fi sound of dream-pop and an extra dose of left-field quirkiness, singer Mel Tickle and producer Luke McDonald cemented themselves as a unique sound worth keeping eyes on; like The AvalanchesPanda Bear and My Bloody Valentine blended into pop package. Earlier tracks like 'Dream State' from earlier in the year demonstrate their sound of samples stitched together like a patchwork blanket over janky guitars and dreamy vocals. Continuing the band's concept of a "house party gone wrong", 'Run Away' sees the band take a turn for the melancholy without forsaking their junkyard-pop sound.

Built around a tinny sample from an old recording session, 'Run Away' is as catchy and dreamy as other Holiday Party tracks, yet has an edge of bitter-sweetness that sets it apart. The mix expands with a steady beat and layers of downtrodden synths over breezily plucked guitar, while the vocals intone with a very 90s-shoegaze kind of style, resulting in a track the bobs and weaves between being uplifting and melancholy. Producer Luke McDonald says the track is a "twisted flip of pop songs from the 50s and 60s", and you definitely get this sense with the mix of janky, Beach Boys-esque sampling over downtrodden minor-key synth.

Plug into the latest music with our FREE weekly newsletter

I'm always glad to see both sampling and dream-pop in the mainstream world, and Holiday Party do a fantastic job at making tunes that are catchy, woozy and totally unique. With a national tour and full-length release on the horizon, the duo are steadily carving themselves a well-deserved niche.

IMAGE BY JEFF ANDERSEN Jnr

WORDS BY MAX LEWIS

SEE ALSO