Since making their debut back in 2014 with the searing shoegaze haze that was Soft Focus, Miners have steadily been drilling their way into the collective psyche of Wollongong punters as being up there with fellow local elite such as Shining Bird and Hockey Dad. They have the chops – Soft Focus was an extremely promising debut that had an alluring balance of attitude and ambiguity – but they had no more material.
When I first heard Soft Focus, it got me in all the right places with the ghastly aloofness of My Bloody Valentine and the brawny attitude of Sonic Youth. But it was such a tease. I wanted more, but couldn’t get it. That was until a little email dropped into my inbox a few days ago and once again Miners were back on my radar – this time armed with promises of an EP, plus a tasty little nugget called Wrings, and the world seemed at peace once more.
Armed with shoegaze guitars and elements of jangle pop, Miners are back with the golden nugget that is Wrings, a hammering piece of 90s-inspired noise rock.
Miners are a four-piece with an affinity for guitar music awash with the haze of the 1990s. Noise is key for the band. The guitars buried in a deluge of angry fuzz and bitter reverb. The rhythm section is more laid-back, injecting the music with a sort of lightheartedness that blunts the serrated edge of the guitars. Wrings is a more upbeat affair than Soft Focus, taking a more jangly approach to the rhythms while still maintaining the shoegaze aura that Miners inherently exhume.
There is an underlying angst in the track, but it is complimented by a sanguine hue that surrounds the two and a half minutes – what is left is a unmistakable tone of nostalgia. It actually sounds a little like Yuck, with feedback squealing underneath singer Blake Gee’s snaking vocals. One rhythm guitar acts as anchor for the other, swelling under a sea of fuzz, reverb and feedback while the second guitar bobs above, bouncy and clean.
The track dashes between laid-back strumming and an all-out sonic assault, never letting attention slip, making you anticipate where it’s all leading to. It climaxes with walls of guitars and a clamour of crashing cymbals before everything comes to an abrupt halt, leaving a lone cymbal to fade into the ether. I pretty much guarantee you’ll want to go back to the start and do it all again.
Wrings is the first track set to feature on a five track EP called Pala, due out October 1 via Strange Pursuits, the label established by Day Ravies guitarist Sam Wilkinson. If this track is anything to go by, we can expect a beautiful nugget of shoegaze-inspired rock from Pala, and with it, the elevation of Miners into the dominion of Wollongong’s elite.
Miners will be launching Pala on the following dates:
3/10 – The Record Crate, Sydney w/ Draining Pool & Milkk
08/10 – Grace Darling Hotel, Melbourne w/ Hollow Everdaze, Bloodhounds on my Trail & Lalic
10/10 – Barwon Club, Geelong w/ Hollow Everdaze & The Underhanded
15/10 – Phoenix, Canberra w/ Day Ravies, Mind Blanks & Wives
16/10 – Rad, Wollongong w/ Day Ravies & Draining Pool
30/10 – Greaser, Brisbane w/ Blonde Tongues & Hound
06/11 – Roxbury Hotel, Sydney w/ Day Ravies & Unity Floors
