Triple J Unearthed pick of the week
When Wagga Wagga via Melbourne outfit The Ocean Party released their third album Split last year, the record’s title track was a stand out moment. It was also the perfect introduction to Ciggie Witch, another creative outlet for The Ocean Party drummer and Split lead-man Zac Denton. The disaffected weariness that Denton displayed on Split is at the core of the debut Ciggie Witch album Rock N Roll Juice that comes out in May. It’s a nice change of pace though that Ciggie Witch have lead the release with first single Long Weekend, a short and sharp tune that rollicks along with refreshing energy.
Against the musical muscle from the band featuring a few Ocean Party members (Ciggie Witch being just one of its countless offshoot projects) as well as friends from Aleks & The Ramps and Zone Out (while the album also features occasional violin from The Triffids’ Robert McComb), Denton lays out his particular frustrations and the crippling malaise of being a young person in 2014 that include being too shy to approach the girl behind the bar and being sick of drinking – but drinking anyway.
It’s all summed up in an anecdote about his pool pump being broken as the water goes stagnant and is delivered in Denton’s endearing country-kid ramble. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so sad. But then again it still kind of is.