New Music: Halcyon Drive - Cruel Kids EP

Halcyon Drive has just released their debut EP, Cruel Kids, which appears as one of the more engaging guitar-based releases of Australian music this year. It's engagement lies in the fact that it unashamedly merges pop hooks with a mixture of garage rock and indie pop. Currently it is seen as uncool to embrace 'pop' but where the problem actually lies in artists that suddenly became popular because... Surprise, they make music that is accessible. 

Crusoe marks this out from the start with it's reverb layered chorus and repeated guitar riffs that make it hard to ignore. Then there is the lead single Whitewash with a down-tempo edge at first that crashes into a series of short, sharp drums breakdowns. But what really makes it are Michael Oechsle's vocals that cut through the instrumentals to hold your attention. Indeed, whether it is the impassioned vocals of Thieves or the indie pop aspects of Blisters Oechsle's voice is what you stay for. Oechsle's vocals give it that pop aspect that could open up this band to a far larger audience and stamp their presence in the Australian soundscape. 

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