They've already unleashed two EPs, The End Of Time, SIDES and singles, Police & The Tambourine Girl to a warmly receptive world; now Sydney based The Tambourine Girls announce their debut self-titled full length and release the third single leading into its release, Cupo.
Cupo is a sun-drenched exercise in 70s psych, teeming with reverb and - you guessed it - an actual tambourine. Relf explains its inspiration as stemming from his own imaginings about "what it would be like to be a man my age who had grown up in Iraq". Its warm yet vaguely melancholic sensibility, combined with the happy accident of studio assistant Antonia Gauci's resplendent vocal outro, makes it guitarist Nick Weaver's favourite track on the album.
Debut Album Release Announced. The Tambourine Girls Out November 4 2016
The Tambourine Girls' debut LP puts to bed the notion that if one is a jack of all trades, they're a master of none. Frontman Simon Relf deftly traverses the musical spectrum, paying his dues to float-along folk-rock, riotous come-hither blues, 60s Brit-pop, that disaffected brand of alt-country that's enjoying such a buzzed-about resurgence of late and many more. Flitting between influences but never resting for too long, The Tambourine Girls expertly extracts the sweetest elements of each, blending them in a triumphant metamorphosis to create something entirely new.
The frenetic energy captured on this triumphant debut isn't manufactured - according to Relf, it's real: " The Tambourine Girls wasn’t very rehearsed at all because I wanted to catch the feeling of the band discovering the music. There’s one track on the album which was done in only one take, and it was actually the first time we’d ever played it as a band… It’s exciting to be able to do that, and it’s great that we have an unwritten understanding as a band to deliver under that kind of self-imposed creative pressure."
Achievements to Date & Live
Borne out of a collective impressive musical heritage, The Tambourine Girls began as Relf's solo project. Their 2014 debut EP The End Of Time saw the band find their place on the international stage, with praise rolling in from Europe, the US, and more - ultimately resulting in a run of national tours supporting The Preatures, Dustin Tebbutt, Holy Holy and Megan Washington. 'Police', the first single released from The Tambourine Girls (LP), was met with a fan and critical reaction nothing short of uproarious - at time of sending, it has been played over 350k times on Spotify (and rapidly counting).
With this extensive critical resume, coupled with a reputation for high-energy unforgettable live shows, The Tambourine Girls are poised for what's to come. The release of The Tambourine Girls, and its subsequent launch tour, are sure to cement themselves as one of the most innovative bands in the Australian music canon once and for all.
Stream The Tambourine Girls Full Discography