MYLEE GRACE

WHIPLASH IN THE MOSHPIT

LOVE POLICE RECORDS + TAPES

One of the first batch of releases on the newly minted record label by Love Police, Mylee Grace returns to releasing music after relocating to the Northern Rivers region of NSW six years ago. Prior to that she’d released a solo EP in 2010 and a collaborative album with her partner Ozzie Wright. Now, finally, she’s released her debut solo album, a freewheeling collection of songs that sway seamlessly between genres.

There’s a ramshackle and organic charm to Grace’s songs. Not lo-fi or incomplete though – it’s the way the band lean back, like that slouch on a long car trip or the comfortable back porch chair. The lazy strum of the Velvet Underground drifts into light psych rock in the vein of Mazzy Star, cosmic Americana haziness, 50’s doo wop inspired girl group sounds and the country/folk of The Band. It all amounts to a wonderfully warm afterglow of a record. 

Though at times, after a brisk and catchy start with ‘Any Road’ and ‘Waste My Time’, a mid-tempo sameness does threaten to dilute the mood but Grace brings it home gloriously with the Hurray For The Riff Raff sounding ‘Call Me’ and the closing ‘Panda Jam’ which travels from a Tropicália feel to beautiful jazz-tinged, psych folk. 

Chris Familton