Music / Premieres
Track by Track:
monstahouse - It's Always Fear
monstahouse - It's Always Fear
Following the release of It’s Always Fear in January, we caught up with Sydney garage-pop trio monstahouse to dig into each track that makes up their sprawling and evocative new EP.
While the project originally took shape around singer-songwriter Su-Ann Low’s bedroom recordings, on It’s Always Fear, monstahouse’s third EP since 2018, we’re offered an enthralling look at the broadening scope of the group. Although still leaning into the lo-fi pop charm and intimate atmospheres of the band’s earliest demos, this time around we’re hearing the trio at their most adventurous and assured yet.
Picking up where their previous single ‘Digital Silence’ left off, a hushed and stripped-down indie-folk moment, ‘Good Terms’ begins with soft guitar chimes and Su-Ann’s compelling vocals, before quickly expanding with a propulsive rhythm section and soaring hooks. Up next, ‘Run’ follows suit with its lilting groove and tender vocal delivery, before ‘Liquid Machine’ shifts the pace, showcasing monstahouse at their most fiery with blown-out guitars over a racing beat.
After a moment of calm with ‘’, we’re immersed in the EP’s expansive centrepiece ‘The Offing’; clocking in at over 11 minutes, it’s a journey that weaves from its crunchy indie-rock beginning through scrappy noise breakdowns and enigmatic jams, loaded with creative twists and illusive charisma from start to finish. Finally, It’s Always Fear rounds out with ‘Just Falling’, a restless jangly rocker that similarly sprawls while wrangling together the band’s emotional potency for one final punch.
To help us explore the EP even further, Su-Ann kindly walked us through each track on It’s Always Fear.
Picking up where their previous single ‘Digital Silence’ left off, a hushed and stripped-down indie-folk moment, ‘Good Terms’ begins with soft guitar chimes and Su-Ann’s compelling vocals, before quickly expanding with a propulsive rhythm section and soaring hooks. Up next, ‘Run’ follows suit with its lilting groove and tender vocal delivery, before ‘Liquid Machine’ shifts the pace, showcasing monstahouse at their most fiery with blown-out guitars over a racing beat.
After a moment of calm with ‘
To help us explore the EP even further, Su-Ann kindly walked us through each track on It’s Always Fear.
Good Terms
‘Good Terms’ is about a relationship and about heavy self doubt on my part.
“I’ll never do you wrong, that sounds conceited”
Run
‘Run’ is about someone I know and how they are always in denial about the real world and they live in their own little fantasy.
“all of the things you need, you never wanted”
Liquid Machine
‘Liquid Machine’ is about capitalism and the working world and how I’m scared of it.
“listening to Clairo just makes me upset” “all I am is all I can be”
‘Good Terms’ is about a relationship and about heavy self doubt on my part.
“I’ll never do you wrong, that sounds conceited”
Run
‘Run’ is about someone I know and how they are always in denial about the real world and they live in their own little fantasy.
“all of the things you need, you never wanted”
Liquid Machine
‘Liquid Machine’ is about capitalism and the working world and how I’m scared of it.
“listening to Clairo just makes me upset” “all I am is all I can be”
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The Offing
‘The Offing’ is about fearing the future and not being able to see one.
“I’ve seen a thousand deaths, the future lays right outside my door” “can you see that one green light on the horizon? or was it never even there?”
Just Falling
‘Just Falling’ is about losing an old friend because things weren’t working out anymore.
“if I leave maybe then my fears will stop” “all of my shame was invented in your name”
‘The Offing’ is about fearing the future and not being able to see one.
“I’ve seen a thousand deaths, the future lays right outside my door” “can you see that one green light on the horizon? or was it never even there?”
Just Falling
‘Just Falling’ is about losing an old friend because things weren’t working out anymore.
“if I leave maybe then my fears will stop” “all of my shame was invented in your name”
It's Always Fear is out now in all the usual places.
