ZEN HAIRCUTS

THEY ARE

a trio of heartstring-tugging emo dorks from Sydney busting out some of the genre’s best new sounds (albeit all too infrequently). The focal point is the deft, razor-sharp interplay between vocalist Kieran Baskerville and guitarist Julie Enriquez, the former’s battered drawl a welcome contrast to the latter’s equally chaotic and charismatic fingerpicking.

THEY SOUND LIKE

the perfect soundtrack for that part of the road trip where surroundings are barren and introspection looms. Songs ebb and flow between chill noodlers and all-energy head-thrashers (oftentimes repeatedly in the same cut), bringing to the current emo revival a bright and buoyant flavour all of their own.

YOU’LL DIG THEM IF YOU LIKE

Modern Baseball, American Football, Modest Mouse, and gazing ominously out of train windows and pretending you’re the underdog protagonist of an indie ballad music video.

YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT

their luminescent 2019 EP, WhyAre

AllMyPlantsDead? Its 13-minute runtime is depressingly minuscule, but layered deep with polychromatic guitar hooks and earwormish vocal melodies, there’s more replay value on deck than some hour-plus epics. We could listen to Enriquez’s neck-noodling fluidity for hours on repeat.