Its rare that a bands debut album sounds as confident and self-assured as Rolling Blackouts Coastal FeversHope Downs. To say that the first full-length from the Melbourne quintet improves on their buzz-building EPs from the last few years would be an understatement: the promise those early releases hinted at is fully realized here, with ten songs of urgent, passionate guitar pop that elicit warm memories of bands past, from the Go-Betweens jangle to the charmingly lo-fi trappings of New Zealands Flying Nun label. But dont mistake Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever for nostalgists:Hope Downsis the sound of a band finding its own collective voice.

The hard-hitting debut album is a testament to Rolling Blackouts C.F.s tight-knit and hard-working bonafides. Prior to forming the band in 2013, singers/guitarists Fran Keaney, Tom Russo, and Joe White had played together in various garage bands, dating back to high school. When Rolling Blackouts C.F. started, with Joe Russo [Toms brother] on bass, Marcel [Tussie, Joe Whites then-housemate] on drums, the chemistry was immediate. After a split EP with You Yangs (another Russo brothers band), released in the form of a frisbee, they self-releasedTalk Tightin 2015, which Sydney-based record label Ivy League gave a wider release the following year.Talk Tightgarnered plaudits from critics, including legendary rock scribe Robert Christgau. In 2017, Sub Pop releasedThe French PressEP, bringing the bands chugging and tuneful non-linear indie rock to the rest of the world as they settled into their sound with remarkable ease.

Hope Downswas largely written over the past year in the bands Melbourne rehearsal room where their previous releases were also written and recorded. The bands core trio of songwriters hunkered down and wrote as the chaos of the world outside unavoidably seeped into the songwriting process. We were feeling like we were in a moment where the sands were shifting and the world was getting a lot weirder. There was a general sense that things were coming apart at the seams and people around us were too, Russo explains. The album title, taken from the name of a vast open cut mine in the middle of Australia, refers to the feeling of standing at the edge of the void of the big unknown, and finding something to hold on to.

1. An Air Conditioned Man
2. Talking Straight
3. Mainland
4. Time in Common
5. Sister's Jeans
6. Bellarine
7. Cappuccino City
8. Exclusive Grave
9. How Long?
10. The Hammer