Music / Features
Track by Track:
Major Plains - Big City Blinking
Major Plains - Big City Blinking
Having been a staple around the pubs of Melbourne since 2019, it’s a real pleasure to finally hear recorded material from local charmers Major Plains, in the form of their debut EP Big City Blinking. To help us get more familiar with the evocative jangle-pop of Big City Blinking, the group kindly walked us through each track on the EP.
While having become interwoven into the fabric over the Melbourne music scene over the past few years, and building on the reliable jangle-pop sound that’s so familiar to this city, on Big City Blinking Major Plains have cut out a patch that is uniquely their own. A long time coming, Big City Blinking began to take shape in January 2020, recorded by Liam Barton above One Year in Collingwood where the four-piece laid down drums, bass, and rhythm guitars live until COVID put the release on hold. Finally completed between lockdown at bassist Will Holden’s home studio, the EP defies the time in which it was created with its bright and laidback sound, yet has plenty lying underneath the surface for listeners to dig into.
Carrying on the jangle-pop torch, some ten years on since The Twerps and Dick Diver took over the local music scene, Major Plains take on the style is instantly comfortable and inviting, like a warm embrace and honest conversation with a mate. Right across the EP there is a real sense of authenticity across these six tracks, that anchors the glimmering instrumentals. ‘Expecting You’ opens the listen with a sense of familiarity - re-recorded for this EP, the track sets the scene for what’s to come as it tells a story of being let down, similar to a mate unloading what’s been going on in their life when you catch up with them. While this take evokes the same balmy atmosphere as the original version, its buzzing synth lines, rich guitars and polished production adds extra depth in comparison to the demo. Next up, ‘Avalon’ is another fine catchy slice of jangle-pop, the refrain of “didn’t have the heart to say it”, furthering the band’s earnest sound and is elevated in its openness by the sweet harmonies.
Mid way through Big City Blinking, ‘Pipe Dream’ shifts gears as things amble along in a more somber tone. There is a sense of exhaustion and also yearning for more at this point, like a reflective moment on an overcast afternoon. The opening synths on ‘Four Winds’ continue on in this way, a track which reveals the EP’s title yet does so in an almost throwaway fashion; it’s indicative of the understated way that Major Plains construct their songs, there is more than meets the eye and there is plenty to uncover.
Powered by a repetitive and meditative groove, ‘Hanging Up’ is a laidback song about slowing down, and appropriately the humming keys and leisurely guitars match the sentiment of the lyrics. With three singers sharing vocal duties across Big City Blinking, each singer brings their own style and idiosyncrasies to every moment, making them shine in their own way. Major Plains provide a real sense of what it feels like to live in this city as different narratives intersperse through the verses of ‘Rain Comes Down’ but in the chorus there is the repeated refrain of “rain comes down”, a familiar feeling of living here. There is a gentle sense of optimism that after exploring different emotions throughout Big City Blinking wraps it up nicely.
Whilst we wait for Major Plains to return to the live stage (which surely must be soon), the band have kindly pulled back the curtain on the tracks that make up Big City Blinking.
Carrying on the jangle-pop torch, some ten years on since The Twerps and Dick Diver took over the local music scene, Major Plains take on the style is instantly comfortable and inviting, like a warm embrace and honest conversation with a mate. Right across the EP there is a real sense of authenticity across these six tracks, that anchors the glimmering instrumentals. ‘Expecting You’ opens the listen with a sense of familiarity - re-recorded for this EP, the track sets the scene for what’s to come as it tells a story of being let down, similar to a mate unloading what’s been going on in their life when you catch up with them. While this take evokes the same balmy atmosphere as the original version, its buzzing synth lines, rich guitars and polished production adds extra depth in comparison to the demo. Next up, ‘Avalon’ is another fine catchy slice of jangle-pop, the refrain of “didn’t have the heart to say it”, furthering the band’s earnest sound and is elevated in its openness by the sweet harmonies.
Mid way through Big City Blinking, ‘Pipe Dream’ shifts gears as things amble along in a more somber tone. There is a sense of exhaustion and also yearning for more at this point, like a reflective moment on an overcast afternoon. The opening synths on ‘Four Winds’ continue on in this way, a track which reveals the EP’s title yet does so in an almost throwaway fashion; it’s indicative of the understated way that Major Plains construct their songs, there is more than meets the eye and there is plenty to uncover.
Powered by a repetitive and meditative groove, ‘Hanging Up’ is a laidback song about slowing down, and appropriately the humming keys and leisurely guitars match the sentiment of the lyrics. With three singers sharing vocal duties across Big City Blinking, each singer brings their own style and idiosyncrasies to every moment, making them shine in their own way. Major Plains provide a real sense of what it feels like to live in this city as different narratives intersperse through the verses of ‘Rain Comes Down’ but in the chorus there is the repeated refrain of “rain comes down”, a familiar feeling of living here. There is a gentle sense of optimism that after exploring different emotions throughout Big City Blinking wraps it up nicely.
Whilst we wait for Major Plains to return to the live stage (which surely must be soon), the band have kindly pulled back the curtain on the tracks that make up Big City Blinking.
Expecting You
'Expecting You' is about getting stood up. It follows the suspense leading up to a first date and the feeling of total devastation that follows. It blows the scenario way out of proportion, as the anxious mind often does. This is the first song that we pieced together as a band and released as a demo in 2019. We decided to re-record this song alongside the other five tracks so they all come from the same place. If you listen closely, there are three of us (Tom, Ellie and Paddy) singing on this track.
Avalon
'Avalon' is about finding a way out of a relationship that isn’t working. The main character sneaks out in the middle of the night to escape their unhappy home. They had grand plans to fly to the other side of the world, but arrive at the airport to realise it is closed. So they return home with their tail between their legs. But this gives them the chance to communicate with their now-ex and depart on good terms. Like a lot of these songs, this started as a rough sketch on acoustic guitar and took final form in a band setting. Ellie’s lead guitar hook and Will’s bass lines came very intuitively. I remember feeling really energised by how excited Paddy was about the song on drums too. His energy drove this to be our most rocky tune.
Pipe Dream
This is about the jarring experience of going to a catholic all boys school. It imagines an educator attempting to teach a student how to fit within a conservative world. But the student decides to go their own way. I learned a lot about how I didn’t want to be in high school, so this song celebrates going against the grain and thinking critically about authority. Our band started with references like Joy Division and Television in mind and I think sonically this is the most new-wave sounding track that we recorded. This song took a lot of shape during the sessions we had at Will (our bass player)’s recording studio.
Four Winds
I (Paddy) wrote 'Four Winds' in 2017 while living in Spain, so it had been sitting on the backburner for a little while. At its core the song is about wanting someone who mightn’t necessarily want you back. It’s exploring the idea of reconstructing your ego without that person, and how it can be tempting to try to fill either that void with hedonism, or haul up in your room and shut yourself off entirely. The title for the song comes from the name of a station in Madrid’s southern fringes near the airport. The photo for the cover of this single was taken on the side of a highway in the Canary Islands in 2016.
Hanging Up
This track is about taking on external issues as a way of avoiding dealing with our own. Pouring energy into trying to change what we can’t. And the friction this creates. At the time of writing I (Tom) had reached a point of complete exhaustion. This song was my way of mapping the negative forces that had sent me on a downward spiral. It concludes with deciding to cut them loose and wipe the slate clean.
Rain Comes Down
This song is the most optimistic on the record and seemed like a good note to end on. Many of these songs proved to be a form of therapy over the course of a couple of years. It is about coming out of a seemingly never-ending challenging period and clumsily navigating awkward social interactions. Who knows, maybe it can be reinterpreted as an end-of-lockdown anthem. It was the last song written on the EP and marks a point in time when I was starting to feel a lot better mentally. Rain after drought if you like. It snuck on to the EP at the last minute, as we’d only just jammed it as a band the week before going in to record. We had a bit of extra time on our last day recording, which meant we could include this song. I’m really glad we did.
'Expecting You' is about getting stood up. It follows the suspense leading up to a first date and the feeling of total devastation that follows. It blows the scenario way out of proportion, as the anxious mind often does. This is the first song that we pieced together as a band and released as a demo in 2019. We decided to re-record this song alongside the other five tracks so they all come from the same place. If you listen closely, there are three of us (Tom, Ellie and Paddy) singing on this track.
Avalon
'Avalon' is about finding a way out of a relationship that isn’t working. The main character sneaks out in the middle of the night to escape their unhappy home. They had grand plans to fly to the other side of the world, but arrive at the airport to realise it is closed. So they return home with their tail between their legs. But this gives them the chance to communicate with their now-ex and depart on good terms. Like a lot of these songs, this started as a rough sketch on acoustic guitar and took final form in a band setting. Ellie’s lead guitar hook and Will’s bass lines came very intuitively. I remember feeling really energised by how excited Paddy was about the song on drums too. His energy drove this to be our most rocky tune.
Pipe Dream
This is about the jarring experience of going to a catholic all boys school. It imagines an educator attempting to teach a student how to fit within a conservative world. But the student decides to go their own way. I learned a lot about how I didn’t want to be in high school, so this song celebrates going against the grain and thinking critically about authority. Our band started with references like Joy Division and Television in mind and I think sonically this is the most new-wave sounding track that we recorded. This song took a lot of shape during the sessions we had at Will (our bass player)’s recording studio.
Four Winds
I (Paddy) wrote 'Four Winds' in 2017 while living in Spain, so it had been sitting on the backburner for a little while. At its core the song is about wanting someone who mightn’t necessarily want you back. It’s exploring the idea of reconstructing your ego without that person, and how it can be tempting to try to fill either that void with hedonism, or haul up in your room and shut yourself off entirely. The title for the song comes from the name of a station in Madrid’s southern fringes near the airport. The photo for the cover of this single was taken on the side of a highway in the Canary Islands in 2016.
Hanging Up
This track is about taking on external issues as a way of avoiding dealing with our own. Pouring energy into trying to change what we can’t. And the friction this creates. At the time of writing I (Tom) had reached a point of complete exhaustion. This song was my way of mapping the negative forces that had sent me on a downward spiral. It concludes with deciding to cut them loose and wipe the slate clean.
Rain Comes Down
This song is the most optimistic on the record and seemed like a good note to end on. Many of these songs proved to be a form of therapy over the course of a couple of years. It is about coming out of a seemingly never-ending challenging period and clumsily navigating awkward social interactions. Who knows, maybe it can be reinterpreted as an end-of-lockdown anthem. It was the last song written on the EP and marks a point in time when I was starting to feel a lot better mentally. Rain after drought if you like. It snuck on to the EP at the last minute, as we’d only just jammed it as a band the week before going in to record. We had a bit of extra time on our last day recording, which meant we could include this song. I’m really glad we did.
Big City Blinking is out now in all the usual places.
