Brothers Levi and Sam Mellington have been playing together since they were kids. And it shows.
Now, under the name Travalley, the two-piece have just released their single Heartless, and it’s a hard-hitting piece of indie gold full of catchy hooks and brilliant harmonies.
Travalley have just released their infectious new single Heartless and it’s laced with luscious pop hooks and a unique brotherly bond.
Whilst the band have previously gone through various incarnations, it’s this stripped-back iteration that feels most right to the brothers. Yet that doesn’t mean that the music is any more stripped-back. In fact, the opposite is true. Heartless is a whopping offering of big indie rock.
Encased in luscious reverb, Heartless begins with dreamy guitar chords and vocals, before punchy drums and bass enter. Vocally, the track is reminiscent of Dave Hosking from Boy & Bear, with a warm, alluring Australian accent saturating every lyric, yet the driving nature of the track recalls Temper Trap. Heartless exists somewhere in the middle, carving out its own space, one that is simultaneously old and new.
The brothers are masters at layering and this really comes through in the arrangement of Heartless. The track alternates between pulsing sections where guitars, bass, and drums all interact, building up an intricate bed of layers, before cutting back to simply guitar and vocals, recalling the beginning of the track.
Then at the three-quarter mark, the drums suddenly shift gear, pulling back to half-time. The section evokes a kind of nostalgia, and the lyrics sing over and over, “If you’ve got something, it’ll be alright.”
Speaking on the track, the brothers describe: “The song I like to think reflects the hard truths you go through with growing up and realising that you can’t please everyone.”
Those final lines operate then as a kind of solace to that realisation. If you’ve got something, it’ll be alright.
“For everyone, that something is always going to be different, which for me makes life super exciting because you never know what’s going to happen next or who is going to come into your life.”
Check out Heartless below:
