The Goon Sax - Mirror II

The Quietus

The Goon Sax’s debut album Up To Anything quietly redefined traditional notions of indie, pop, and everything in-between. It was an astutely candid snapshot of wide-eyed euphoria and the grievances of youth – trivial and significant – buoyed by scrappy instrumentation and a rare prowess for creating the kind of effectual jangle pop that never leaves you. Granted, it would be too obvious to compare them to The Go-Betweens, given their geographical roots, but the similarities are often striking: their music evokes the same feelings of nostalgia and melancholy, as well as a deep understanding of the importance of melody and all of its nuances. Louis (son of the Go-Between’s Robert) Forster’s accented turn of phrase – combined with an emotional resonance – denoted a particular sun-kissed-but-anxious sound that couldn’t be from anywhere other than Australia.

Having said that, Mirror II sounds immediately disparate to its two predecessors. There were signs of a deeper exploration of pop and electronic music on 2016’s We’re Not Talking, but there’s more of a distinctly European feel from the trio here – thanks in part, perhaps, to Forster uprooting to Berlin (which might explain his sprechgesang verse on ‘Bathwater’). Mirror II sounds so much more sophisticated, self-assured and, dare I say, grown up.

To call Mirror II eclectic would be an understatement. From disco to folk, to no wave and bubblegum-pop, it’s clear that The Goon Sax’s historical music knowledge is all encompassing. Gone are the first-person narratives of their insecure school days – that’s been replaced with more oblique, universal themes, the culmination of which was from three years of writing and some considerable time spent apart. This allowed them to experiment with more abstract, atonal sounds.

It’s refreshing to see a band that thrives on sharing the limelight. There is no front person, per-se. The roles within The Goon Sax are shared equally: they all take turns singing and swapping instruments, and each member has their own respective qualities that are imperative to the band’s formula. Riley’s softer, poppier inflictions on ‘Desire’ and ‘Tag’ point towards a predilection for Les Rallizes Dénudés, Keiji Haino – and even Kylie Minogue.

Elsewhere, Louis’ more volatile, shapeshifting approach on ‘Psychic’ and ‘In the Stone’ is rooted in an affinity for Young Marble Giants, Stereolab, and Diane Di Prima’s Memoirs of a Beatnik. James’ psychedelic folk on ‘Carpentry’ and ‘Caterpillars’ recall the hazy romanticism of The Walker Brothers, Felt, and Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett.

The juxtaposition of these stylistic temperaments complement each other so well that The Goon Sax sound like a musical anomaly, despite wearing their influences on their sleeves. They manage to tap into very familiar feelings and emotions in a way that’s ambitious and lofty, but never cloyingly sentimental or maudlin. Mirror II is a lesson in transcending our feelings while also acknowledging them.

You might not realise it yet, but there’s a special place in the annals of pop music for this band. In fact, Mirror II would sit comfortably next to New Order’s Power, Corruption & Lies when you consider its strange, petulant romanticism and surreal imagery.

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The Guardian 0

(Matador)
With three highly distinct writers, the still-developing band are in a fascinating state of flux

Growing up in public is a tough gig, but Australian trio the Goon Sax don’t have a lot of choice. They were still at school when their 2016 debut album Up to Anything was released, with prosaic, witty songs about unrequited crushes, Saturday jobs and dates ruined by sweaty hands and bad haircuts. It would probably have been compared to the early, Jonathan Richman-indebted work of the Go-Betweens even if frontman Louis Forster’s dad hadn’t been the Go-Betweens’ Robert Forster. Frankly, if you’re a trio from Brisbane with a female drummer, dealing in smart, twitchy-but-melodic guitar rock with lyrics majoring in affairs of the heart, you’re going to provoke comparison to the Go-Betweens – who were all of those things 40 years ago – regardless of whether your old fella was in them or not.

The Goon Sax were still in their teens when its less rough-hewn successor, We’re Not Talking, was released two years later and started attracting attention among indie circles in the US, which led to a deal with venerable US alt-rock label Matador, currently home to Perfume Genius, Interpol, Julien Baker and more.