Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Body Type, Poison City Records 2022.
I have brought you the offerings from a few all-female bands recently; Teen Jesus and The Jean Teasers from Canberra with their excellent EP Pretty Good For A Girl Band, The Pillow Queens from Dublin with Leave The Light On, Australian folk outfit All Our Exes Live In Texas with When We Fall, and now to complete the quadrella here is Sydney band, Body Type.
Everything is Dangerous But Nothing is Surprising is their debut album and it is as good as the fantastic releases from the other three bands.
Not surprisingly Body Type were the recipients of similar unsolicited advice that Teen Jesus received.
They were told by a music industry bore that their “charm would wear off if they didn’t practise playing their instruments.”
The band’s response is a searing guitar solo in the first single lifted from the album The Charm.
It lifts the same digit that Teen Jesus lifted when confronted with the belittling comment that has become their title of their EP..
Body Type is comprised of Sophie McComish (vocal, guitar), Annabel Blackman (guitar, vocal), Cecil Coleman on drums, and bassist & vocalist Georgia Wilkinson-Derums.
They have released two EPs prior to this album, simply titled EP1 and EP2, under the Partisan Records label.
Body Type produce mesmeric garage/punk/rock that is built around deceptively simple chord progressions and yet they somehow create endless variations on a theme.
Couple Song and Futurism are largely two chord songs but they are totally engrossing with their changes in tempo providing light and shade and a point of difference.
Hot Plastic Punishment is a grungy minute length jam while Buoyancy is propelled forward by its frantic bass line with the break-neck pace having a few minor hiatuses before plunging headlong into the maelstrom again.
The girls have mastered the art of taking the listener on a journey. Many of the songs build slowly providing layer upon layer of complexity as the song develops.
The album was recorded quickly in 2020, eight days from beginning to end, and produced by Jonathan Boulet of the band Party Dozen but it was held back for release by the pandemic and the band’s inability to tour in support of it.
I find myself becoming more and more excited by these great young bands.
