The Particles - 1980s Bubblegum

Long-time-coming comprehensive collection of all known recordings by Sydney's much-feted proto indie pop duo, The Particles, a gift for anyone who's been hanging around since the band's appearance on Chapter's vital Can't Stop It compilation or simply can't afford/find the original 7"s. That compilation was a pivotal one for me, turning stones over on an Australian post-punk underground that felt very unseen in 2001. Like many of the acts they shared space with on that collection, The Particles were a remarkably well formed proposition, out of the gate in '79 with a sprightly elan that was part new wave melodicism and part DIY individualism. Their songs are both uncommonly catchy and heartfelt, bearing some resemblance to peers Marching Girls, Karen Marks and Tangled Shoelaces, whether they were aware of them or not. There was something in the water, clearly, and whatever it was seemingly shared thousands of miles away in Glasgow and London and even Cardiff. In science they call that 'action at a distance', the non-local interaction of objects that are separated in space, or, to put it another way, two unrelated particles somehow responding in relation to one another. Has a band ever been more aptly named (and even more perfectly, without even knowing it)? And wouldn't you know it, in the band's absence, these songs still move now.