Believe it or not, Rainy Day Women are in fact three-quarters men and make sunny 60s pop music. Hailing from Perth, they started out as a bunch of music-loving boogie boarding mates and have since perfected the art of capturing summer in a song.
Despite the gloomy name, Rainy Day Women oozes warm melodic pop. Their harmony driven yet bittersweet track Matter of Time is given a sweetly nostalgic video premiered today.
Brimming with infectious glowing beats, their sun-drenched tunes radiate The Beatles and Beach Boys-esque sensibilities. Bright and blissful debut EP Sleigh Bed and sophomore EP Friends earned them a spot at the 2013 Laneway Festival, while their debut album Ain’t It Time? oozed even warmer melodic pop. Going on to play at top fests like Groovin’ the Moo and Big Day Out, and supporting the likes of Hungry Kids Of Hungary and Ball Park Music, these West Coasters are pretty much killing it with their sunny day pop.
But, once a band of merry men with Dylan Ollivierre (Vocals/Guitar/Keys), Ross Pickersgill (Guitar) and Brett Walsh (Drums), they’ve now added one merry woman, Carmen Pepper (Vocals/Bass/Keys). Previously playing bass with fellow Perth band Warning Birds, she is a breath of fresh sea-salted air making Rainy Day Women’s sunny melodies warmer still. With a new member and new sound, they’re now set to release a seven track mini album later this year. In the lead up, they’ve dropped first single Matter of Time and its accompanying video. Officially heralding in their newest and fairest band member, this latest tune tells the tale of a relationship falling apart and, despite that not so sunny premise, this song is pure bliss.
Opening with an ocean sunrise, we escape to a beachside town where our lovers’ fallout takes place. Directed and produced by Dylan and Carmen, they also play our young and confused couple. Easing us into their world of heartache with their melancholy lyrics and bittersweet harmonies, you get a sense that showers may be forecast this time around.
Soaked in nostalgia, you hear the hurt in Dylan’s croon and pain in Carmen’s harmonies as they sing about the end being only a matter of time. I mean heck, it’s really hard not to become emotionally-invested in this couple. With their home-movie-style black and white flashbacks to happier days of them hanging out at the beach, playing with their dogs and frolicking in their vegetable patch, it gets to the point where you hope they just work things out by summer’s end. Closing on an ocean sunset, here’s to hoping.
Despite its warm melody, lazy drum beat and sun-drenched keys, this could be the band’s rainiest tune yet. Flooded with melancholy, it’ll have you swaying and swooning and maybe even sweeping away one single tear. But, with their mini album on the way, Rainy Day Women are quite welcome to rain on my parade any day with their (mostly) sunny melodic pop.
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