The Garbage and The Flowers - Cinnamon Sea

I'd seen that Garbage and the Flowers were active on Instagram, though i must admit i didn't for a moment see it as a precursor to the release of new music. How wrong can this one man be? Very and often, it turns out. It's been nearly 15 years since Stoned Rehearsal was released, that in itself essentially a live album, with just a few other lathe cuts along the way. A delight, then, to have them return with this new five song studio album for Fire, a collection that shows those fires of inspiration have dimmed not one bit. Though based in Australia for some time now, I guess you might still consider tG&tF one of the quintessential NZ bands, a kind of totem for the lathe cut underground that runs so deep in those parts. On Cinnamon Sea, the Velvets influence continues to hold true, but only as spirit animal guide. They channel the same art-damaged foggy notions, and dress them in their own style of languid psychedelia and dreamy, campfire confessionals. Eye Know You Are is as bold an opener as you could expect, Helen Johnstone's voice ringing loud in her unmistakable feline manner, both melodic and knotty, more hypnotic than singsong. While it's no Flood production, this is perhaps as clear as any tG&tF recording has ever sounded, and they wear it well, jangly, stumbling pop music with a mysterious cult-y/religious ecstatic quality at their centre. Only five songs, yes, but a great re-introduction to one of the most beloved and seemingly unknowable acts of the international pop underground. Let's hope there's more in the tank.