MUCH like the moon that graces the cover of their sixth and self-titled album, Ball Park Music have consistently risen up to deliver a familiar blend of poppy indie-rock over the past decade.
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Despite suggestions the Brisbane band's popularity was waning after the slightly-experimental and unfairly-judged fourth album Every Night The Same Dream in 2016, they righted the course two years later in spectacular fashion on their triple j listener-voted album of the year Good Mood.
Ball Park Music, originally scheduled to be called Mostly Sunny, treads a path between the experimental psych of Every Night The Same Dream and the poppy breeziness of Good Mood.
It's essentially an album of two halves - side A with it's fuzzed-out psych riffs and a more contemplative and tuneful second act.
The album begins with the energetic Spark Up where frontman Sam Cromack urges that "life is short, spark up", before his patience wears thin, perhaps with himself, by the track's end.
Head Like A Sieve taps into Cromack's love of The Beatles with a riff reminiscent of Paperback Writer and I Feel Nothing sounds like The Dandys Warhols, particularly when the madcap organ kicks into the outro.
While the songs were written, and mostly recorded, prior to COVID-19, isolation and frustration are constant themes. On Bedroom Cromack sings of locking himself away from the world only to be tormented by its inevitable incursions.
The delicate indie-folk of Cherub is the album's answer to Exactly How You Are and the album's torch-waving moment. Again, Cromack hints at an underlying insecurity when he sings, "Have I changed too much?/ Maybe not enough/ I don't wanna weigh you down."
Day & Age disappointed when released as a single and continues to plod along surrounded by stronger company.
Nine years on from their debut Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs, Ball Park Music continue to take small steps in growth, without alienating their established fan base. One of Australian indie's most consistent bands have again delivered high quality control.
3.5 STARS