I believe the term you’ll be looking for is earnest. The imperfection of Australia’s exports often lean toward the obscenely off-tune. Not out of it, because frankly there is no such thing to the music consuming public. There are a range of “talent” shows and underground oddballs to prove as much. So it becomes a chase for finding what’s real versus what musicians have been told is marketable. Music is not a commodity despite being just that; so it takes patience to find something genuine. Or a knock at the door from Natalie and Karl of Elli and Bev. The doomed, affected vocals over gloomy melodies is the rain and the clouds and the dusk. Tangible emotions tied up in musical reaction. I can dig it. Maybe that was the root of punk. Perhaps it was why Buddy Holly had to take one for the team. Pretty sure it’s why Seattle wrapped up its environment into a vision quest. Auto-tune and a handful of repetitious producing teams with the golden ratio of 3 minute pop hits has stripped that FEELING right out. Don’t give me your shit about Taylor Swift and her teenage break-ups. Thankfully I can be left bare by the end of Might Not Look Like It To You. Not depressed. Not unaffected. Just as I was meant to be. At the very least, it’s earnest and that matters. Maybe not to you — not right now — but you’ll remember how it was to FEEL all the FEELS and be fine with it. There’s no shaking it off.
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