What Australian psych should be: Beans drop groovy ‘Calling’ ahead of album release
The five-strong band share the latest track from their upcoming album.
Photo: Danysha Harriott
Mention the words ‘Melbourne’ and ‘psychedelic’ in the same sentence and it’s tough not to think about Australia’s most energetic export, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Matt Blach, lead singer of Beans, is even the drummer in The Murlocs, a group featuring not one, but two members of the Gizz-machine.
Nonetheless, Beans are carving out their niche within the psychedelic subgenre, mixing cool, groovy Gorillaz-esque riffs with the post-punk swagger of groups like Franz Ferdinand. In the harmonies and closing vocals, there’s a bit of the Merseyside pop scene, similarly short and sweet in length. Calling comes as the third single ahead of the group’s third full-length release, Boots N Cats, and it’s a ludicrously addictive number.
The track is at no risk of outstaying its welcome; indeed, it has the reverse effect, proving effortlessly delectable whilst refusing to slake our hunger for more. It’s a bit of zany pop rock, and dominates each genre it straddles, with a keen monopoly on bending each convention to its will. After the group’s first two albums, Babble and All Together Now, and three singles in the can, Beans are looking to cook up nothing short of a hurricane in a hat trick.
Boots N Cats drops on March 1st via Fuzz Club Records.