TRACK-BY-TRACK: SONIC REDUCER TAKE US THROUGH 'SQUEEZE'

Squeeze is out now!

Image: Supplied.

Canberra punk outfit Sonic Reducer have dropped their highly anticipated new EP SQUEEZE. To celebrate, the band are taking us through the collection of songs track-by-track.

“SQUEEZE is a collection of songs that attempt to convey the intangible and specific feelings we and other young people feel," they share. "The songs are vulnerable, but never self-serious; they are self-conscious, but never pity-seeking.”

Later this month, Sonic Reducer will be hitting the road on an east coast tour. Kicking off in Naarm/Melbourne at Bar Open on June 21, the band will then play a House Show in  Eora/Sydney on June 26, before wrapping the run of shows up in Ngunnawal/Canberra at Church on June 18.

BABYMAN

BABYMAN began much like other sonic songs do just as an instrumental jam and a silly name. When we took it into the studio it only existed as a verse and chorus, but after workshopping it with Chris Collins it turned into the song it is now. Lyrically BABYMAN is about fake identities and people’s obsession with consumption, and after these lyrics were written we realised the title didn’t actually need to be changed and fit the topic of the song, with a baby man being a man that is childish and immature.

NEEDLES

NEEDLES was written very spur of the moment, trying to do something in the vein of Rebel Rebel by David Bowie. Once we sped it up and started playing more messy it instantly fell together, feeling and sounding more natural. Lyrically it’s about music subculture, being far removed from the birth of these styles and movements, things blend together and lines blur.

BEND

BEND is a new angle of more traditional songwriting for us that we found really fun and rewarding to pursue. It started from a chord progression and a rough vocal melody, and it was a lot of fun building it up from those basic parts. It’s also super fun to play live.

GIMP

GIMP was a song that sat with us for a long time, our original aim was to make some sort of explosive rock and roll song that felt like the 50s had been blasted forward through time. After various bits of tweaking we locked in the sound and wound up with the massive concussion of rock and roll that is GIMP.

LOCALS

LOCALS was actually one of the first Sonic Reducer songs. It was the only original song that was played at our first show, before either Louie or Ryleigh were in the band. It’s gone through a lot of different stages and it was really satisfying for us to finally nail it with Chris, who managed to really bring out all of the super expressive moments in the song like the alternating half-time and full-time section at the end.

DEAD RINGER

DEAD RINGER to us instantly felt more mature and like a step in the right direction. It’s more melodic than some of what we’ve done previously, but still loud and clearly us. The lyrics had been written awhile before and were used on a previously scrapped song, but once we tried them it worked perfectly and fit the tone of the song far better.

SQUEEZE is out now!

SONIC REDUCER - TOUR DATES

Saturday 21 June - Bar Open, Naarm/Melbourne VIC (tickets)

Thursday 26 June - House Show, Eora/Sydney NSW

Saturday 28 June - Church, Ngunnawal/Canberra ACT (tickets)