Amyl & The Sniffers – Big Attraction/Giddy Up EPs
Named – of course – after the cheap, transitory drug that delivers minute-long highs, snotty garage-punks Amyl & The Sniffers couldn’t be truer to the definition on record. A combined re-release of the band’s two debut EPs dating from 2017 and 2016 respectively, Big Attraction/Giddy Up hits the shelves in anticipation of an LP due mid-2018 and in their native Melbourne they tend this call sort of primitive throwback pub-rock. Their quick-fire tracks average about two minutes apiece and on this evidence the four-piece, led by sassy singer Amy Taylor, are getting brattier over time.
“Mandalay” from the Giddy Up EP sets the scene, an aspirational cry from the gutter that turns to anger on Big Attraction as Taylor tries to better herself in the face of numerous challenges. Simply seeking a better life here, Taylor dreams of living in the titular art-deco apartment block in St. Kilda, the suburb where the four used to live together. A whopping 3 minutes in length, “Caltex Cowgirl” is an altogether different beat however, easing off the gas (ironically enough given its title) for what amounts to a relatively melancholy aside inspired by crappy part-time jobs.
Attacking the daily drudge head on, Taylor truly comes alive on Big Attraction’s rippers. She’s now sexually empowered, prepared to snarl along to a track called “Blowjobs” and extremely at home dropping the C-bomb on the dumb-but-fun “I’m Not A Loser”, a catchy track that covers class struggle, poverty and misogyny all in under two minutes. The street-cruising “70’s Street Munchies” is even more of a blast, Taylor cheekily describing her immaculately retro outfit complete with “bleached hair and shit tats”. She knows the guys wanna get with her and she’s even open to a little fun with a lucky few. Winding up a suitable stomp, the trashy “Balaclava Lover Boogie” suggests there may be a masked lover on the scene though, its backwoods groove coming straight from the bush and with bratty accents from your local, dangerous dive bar. If it isn’t evident already – don’t mess with these kids; they’re tight-knit, hungry and just the right amount of crazy. We’ll take that LP right about now.
Best track: “I’m Not A Loser”
~The re-released Big Attraction/Giddy Ups EPs are out now via Homeless Records.~