2026 REPRESS ON EFFICIENT SPACE
Off goes the MUCH-NEEDED-REPRESS klaxon again with Efficient Space turning their attention to a record first released via Altered States in 2022. If you aren't already familiar with Th Blisks, you might still be aware of who is involved. Supergroup over eggs the pudding somewhat (guilty as ever), though there's certainly pedigree in their ranks - the trio is made up on both halves of Troth and the ever-busy, Yuta Matsumura. Though Matsumura consistently displays enough chameleonic qualities to render it near-pointless assuming where he'll go next, i'd argue How So? leans more closely to what we might now understand as characteristic Troth territory, representing the first evolution of their synth dreamworld sound into tripped-out, dubby terrain, with Amelia Besseny's vocal it's pop-oriented rudder, a trick we've seen them pull on subsequent records. This is music very much of the contemporary Australian underground variety, finding easy company alongside the smoky purgatorial pop of Carla dal Forno, YL Hooi, F Ingers et al, while also possessing an ethereal quality that speaks of the post-punk imagined by the early 4AD pioneers. Ghostly, elliptical songs that reward repeated listens by virtue of leaving a little unsaid, a little shapeless in definition. Such mystery likely explains why Efficient Space are reissuing now - it's that kind of elusive quality that often encourages longevity and How So? does increasingly feel like a statement record for not only all those involved, but the wider surrounding ecosystem of contemporary Australian underground sound.
