Link to our Facebook
Link to our Instagram
Link to our TikTok

Live Review: PREMIERE: Problems ‘Titles’

26 May 2015 | 12:08 pm | Katie Rowley

PROBLEMS have something to say. Mainly about problems. Buckle up, this Adelaide duo are coming out fists swinging.

PROBLEMS have something to say. Mainly about problems. The problems with ‘broken promises, shattered dreams, budget deficits, social inequality, the homogenisation of art and, more specifically, of electronic music’. Buckle up, this Adelaide duo are coming out fists swinging.

‘Titles’ is the first sound we’re receiving from their newest EP, the follow-up to 2014’s debut For The Ages, and is due for release later in 2015. They sound a bit like P A N A M A or Honne, and the duo’s earlier music (tracks like last year’s ‘Capture Me’ and ‘Bruised’) echo strongly of NZ’s Broods, what with the cavernous beats and cacophonic synths. But to simply file them along the ‘sounds like’ lines would do them a disservice – there’s a clear intellect and philosophy that accompanies their music, and it’s a mission statement that they’re not ashamed to shy away from.

The duo describe their new EP as: "a narrative on life through the eyes of a middle class hipster, wading through the infinite barrage of first-world problems whilst providing ambiguous observations on the intricate balance of interactions between friends and acquaintances (which are of little consequence), all set up over up- and down-beat electronica with elements of pop and world music, the kind that you can listen to while riding the bus to work, doing the washing, or laying on the couch with ur iPad, trawling Asos for ur next ‘on sale’ fashion purchase which saves you 40% on the RRP while demonstrating your ability to stay on point".

Plug into the latest music with our FREE weekly newsletter

I mean that’s more or less what I was going to say.

Despite this deeply cynical and disingenuous statement, the track itself is surprisingly uplifting. As the murky vocals call ‘take me down underground’, the sound swells, undulating from some submarine depth to wash up warm and familiar and encompassing. Again though, the musical atmosphere contrasts with the lyrical content – we’re ushered into a false comfort, but one that is ever so appealing, as the ominous male voice states ‘I believe in nothing’.

The repeated refrain of ‘holding the town down’ summons the image of Problems as two urban ranger space cowboys left behind to patrol the barren wastelands of the post-apocalyptic ‘post-Flume’ music-scape. And if the rest of the EP is anything like this track, long may they continue.

‘Titles’ is available through iTunes on Friday May 29.

Words by Katie Rowley

SEE ALSO