Four piece Tired Lion from Perth have been doing pub rounds of this great country with touring buddies Tasmanian’s Luca Brasi and UK’s Gnarwolves over the past few weeks. With a coming tour in May with British India and their own headlining gigs squeezed in between, it’s all happening at the moment for a band that’s been slowing building up a head of steam over the past three years.
With their laid back grunge, constant touring and a knack for writing WAM winning rock songs Perth outfit Tired Lion are a making their mark.
Mates since their high school days and having debuted back in 2012 with single Of the Wolfman followed by 2013’s EP All We Didn’t Know, new single I Don’t Think You Like Me has been on triple J’s high rotation playlist recently and seems to be getting a big thumbs-up from all quarters, especially since track was just named Rock Song of the Year at last week’s West Australia Music Awards. The track itself starts off with a cool Interpol-esque riff before it cruises off into a classic poppy 90’s indie track with a tinge of laid-back grunge, complete with crunching riff with “woo-oo” backing harmonies.
The song is quite possibly a love child of shoe-gazing pop in the style of Weezer meets Sleeper, which can only be a good thing and not a bad idea by any stretch of the imagination. It gets your head swaying to and fro, your foot tapping with singer Sophie Hopes’ higher vocal range reminding us of fellow westerners Little Birdy (remember them!) but you could also make comparisons to the band sounding like recent female fronted indie acts like The Naked & Famous and Metric.
The soft to loud build up approach certainly is a lot more of a rockier (dare I say ballsier?) offering than some of their previous tracks, which often had softer whimsical lyrics, feather-light drum patterns and lush guitar backdrops with a glimpse or two of the “grunge to come’ sound, with more than a nod or two to the styles of The Smashing Pumpkins and Mazzy Star.
Certainly I Don’t Think You Like Me is a bigger step upwards and another piece in the jigsaw in their quest of Oz indie domination. As with most things in life, perfection takes time and refinement. After five years it looks like Tired Lion are achieving just that. Catch them at your local establishment ASAP, since they could well be off doing the festival rounds of Europe and USA in the not too distant future.
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