Fresh-faced and new to the scene, Shellharbour based quartet Left Side Filter bring back the 90’s in their first single of the year, Hey Mister. Susceptible to a pop chorus but tinged in a garage-rock overlay, the boys from the Gong have delivered the goods again.
Independently released, Hey Mister speaks to the sentimentality in us all, as Left Side Filter channel 90’s grunge in a sing-a-long chorus worthy of a stadium tour.
Fringed in psych-fuzz, heavy bass-lines and a twangy riff pull Hey Mister through some grittier moments before a hooky chorus. Reminiscent of early Silverchair, lead vocalist Blake Lauricella commands attention over the distorted guitar work. Velvety and deep, his vocals quaver in all the write places. However, peel back the arrangement and Hey Mister is simply a nostalgic quest for existential answers surrounding Lauricella’s 94-year-old grandfather.
“Lyrically, I was trying to capture my grandfather’s life and the questions I wanted to ask him but no longer could due to his age.”
Lauricella continues, “The song stands as a way to fill in my own blanks about his life, as well as playing into my fascination regarding the unknown constraints of life and the human condition.”
Sliced together with enough narrative and faux performance art to keep you entertained, their official video is also out today. Hues of pale blue and green tie the slides together, and the slow-motion edit common in most clips these days isn’t over exhausted and feels fresh again.
After submitting a demo and subsequently winning a competition, Hey Mister was recorded and mastered at Sydney’s Delta King Studios. At the hands of Ben Wood and with the help of Pacific Avenue’s Harry O’Brien, Left Side Filter have crystallised their sound with harmonies that are inviting and predicting big crowds to sing with.
Catch LSF live this Hottest 100 weekend at Wollongong’s La La La’s on Saturday, 25th Jan. These guys have all the professionalism and good intention of a band with a long career ahead.
