As one fourth of Australian icons Youth Group and a touring/studio member of heavy-hitters We Are Scientists and The Drums, Danny Lee Allen has had a hand in creating some of the most notable indie-rock to come out of Australia and beyond over the past two decades. Now, after years behind the drum kit he’s stepped into the limelight with his brand new project The S-ft F-cus, a solo endeavour that puts the songwriting and instrumental smarts he’d been shaping in the background on full display for the first time.

Following on from the release of the sprawling and enigmatic ‘You & Me and All the Salt in the Sea’ last month, Danny is back today with ‘Yr Name On Rice’, another giddy-making preview of his forthcoming debut EP Lousy w/ Love before it drops next Friday. While ‘You & Me…’ was a fitting introduction track, revealing the expansive scope of the project as it adventurously unwinded over its near eight minute runtime, on ‘Yr Name On Rice’, we find Danny packing all the chaos and charm of his sound into a neater DIY-pop joyride.

Disorientating but far from disorganised, ‘Yr Name On Rice’ opens with swells of tangled guitar lines, shifting into a looming groove before the soundscape clears out for Danny’s evocative vocals to emerge carrying his tightest hooks yet. It’s a track that doesn’t mind morphing and changing shape as the tapestry of jangling leads, crunchy chords and uncanny effects grows; but by the track’s devoted final chorus and its gleaming guitar solo, it’s easy to make sense of the emotional weight embedded within the track while we’re simultaneously lost amongst the glorious haze.