Melbourne based Australian punk group Press Club (Natalie Foster (vocals), Greg Rietwyk (guitars/engineer), Iain Macrae (bass) and Frank Lees (drums)) release their fourth studio album `To All The Ones That I Love` this month with themes of growth, resilience, and emotional reckoning.
`I Am Everything` awakens with a gentle guitar riff and accompanying drumbeat allowing Natalie`s vocal to share a tale of fortitude, resilience and resistance despite challenges faced. The understated bass really expands the sound and adds to this defiant narrative. A rhythmic rolling beat and shimmering riffs guide us through `Wilt` with lyrical content that is anything but waning. A number that has a real reflective hue.
`Champagne & Nikes` races along with an outpouring of insolence and rage against an almost unending list of offenders, a real heads down no nonsense offering. There`s a more melodic shade to `Wasted Days` which has a delightful almost uplifting dreaminess about it and hints at converting those lost days into something more productive but without any real conviction that it`s gonna happen.
`No Pressure` is a foot tapping bouncing number with vocals that roll from shouty to more reflective and back again as it develops. A proper fist pumper of a listen. To me there was a bit of Patti Smith about `Vacate` which was almost constructed in layers and felt at times as if it were about to explode but just about held itself in check.
Title track `To All The Ones That I Love` is a fairly rocky outpouring that seems to contemplate memories and times gone by and those who have at briefly or maybe more significantly meant something in your life. The track almost halts midway as a spoken word examination of prior possibly errant behaviour is shared before resuming its original searing path. There`s a kind of tenacity to `Tightrope` which is another scorching composition which reflects the frustration of being asked questions that you don`t have to answers to or indeed don`t want to answer.
`Staring At The Ceiling` rolls along and is at heart a deeply contemplative submission reflecting one’s own current state of mind. It has a lyrical vulnerability and honest openness about perhaps feeling disconnected and worthless. The album closes out with `Desolation` a slow burn whose lyrics and music mirrors the despondency of the title.
There was so much to enjoy on `To All The Ones That I Love` and I was a bit shocked that I’d hadn`t heard of them up until now their fourth studio album release but I suppose better late than never. The lyrics are at times pretty frank and raw but honest and may leave you with some self-reflection of your own. Musically I thought they fell between the rockiness of fellow Aussies Divinyls and Baby Animals and the punk swagger and belligerence of Amyl and the Sniffers.
For me Press Club`s `To All The Ones That I Love` is a release made for driving along with the windows open in the Summer months blasting out a band you`ve just discovered and wanting everybody to share in.
Rating 8.5/10
