Thehard-hitting debut album is a testament to Rolling Blackouts C.F.’s tight-knitand hard-working bonafides. Prior to forming the band in 2013,singers/guitarists Fran Keaney, Tom Russo, and Joe White had played together invarious garage bands, dating back to high school. When Rolling Blackouts C.F.started, with Joe Russo [Tom’s brother] on bass, Marcel [Tussie, Joe White'sthen-housemate] on drums, the chemistry was immediate. After a split EP withYou Yangs (another Russo brother's band), released in the form of a frisbee,they self-released in2015, which Sydney-based record label Ivy League gave a wider release thefollowing year. Talk Tight garneredplaudits from critics, including legendary rock scribe Robert Christgau. In2017, Sub Pop released EP,bringing the band's chugging and tuneful non-linear indie rock to the rest ofthe world as they settled into their sound with remarkable ease.
Hope Downs was largely written over the past year in the band's Melbournerehearsal room where their previous releases were also written and recorded.The band's core trio of songwriters hunkered down and wrote as the chaos of theworld outside unavoidably seeped into the songwriting process. "We werefeeling like we were in a moment where the sands were shifting and the worldwas getting a lot weirder. There was a general sense that things were comingapart at the seams and people around us were too,” Russo explains. The albumtitle, 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.”
With thehelp of engineer/producer Liam Judson and his portable setup, the band recordedHope Downs live, and co-produced tenguitar pop gems over the course of two weeks in Northern New South Wales duringthe winter of 2017. Hope Downspossesses a robust full-band sound that's all the more impressive consideringthe band's avoidance of traditional recording studios. If you loved Talk Tight and The French Press, you certainly won't be disappointed here—but youmight also be surprised at how the band’s sound has grown. There's a richnessand weight to these songs that was previously only hinted at, from theskyscraping chorus of “Sister's Jeans” to the thrilling climax of album closer“The Hammer.”
Hope Downs is as much about the people that populate the world aroundus—their stories, perspectives, and hopes in the face of disillusionment—as itis about the state of things at large. It's a record that focuses on findingthe bright spots at a time when cynicism all too often feels like the naturalstate. Rolling Blackouts C.F. are here to remind us to keep our feet on theground—and Hope Downs is as deliciousa taste of terra firma as you're going to get from a rock band right now.
