Artist description Dishevelled

Music Style Sissy Pop

Artist History Band formed after release of the debut self-titled album, did loads of touring and then settled down to create their new album, "Brand New"...

Group Members Dave Yetton, Jason Fa'afoi, Bobby Kennedy, David Hunt, Mark Beaton

Albums The Stereo Bus

Press Reviews Now a five-piece - having grown from a solo project for former JPS Experience singer-songwriter Dave Yetton which delivered the local rock debut of 1997 - it's little wonder the Stereo Bus' louds are that much louder. But their softs are just as soft. Which is quite cushy indeed. They might have three guitarists who can swagger up the decibels when the bittersweet mood takes them, as on the exuberant pop opener Thank You Girl, the sturdy epic Caramel and the slow-fused Let It Flow, which in its last movement recalls a slo-mo take on the Who's Teenage Wasteland. But the Stereo Bus approach to rock is less leather trousers, more pyjama bottoms. Case in point: at the midway point when the title track emerges over its pow-wow drums, one of its background noises sounds as if someone's boiling the kettle for the nice cup of tea and a lie-down that is the best listening position for the rest of the album. If there's a slightness to some of the quieter songs, they still help to maintain its hazy, sweetly melodic mood. And there's an artful discretion at work in what the band fits into the yawning gaps in its sound. The Bus certainly aren't greedy on the chord front (sometimes even old ones will do - the verse of Birthday sounds a retread of JPSE's Elemental) but there's something enthralling and cinematic in their counterpoint of cascading guitars, bass, that aforementioned kitchen appliance, and - on the sweetly sighing Hold You Close - guest cicadas. That sense of languor can occasionally turn to grogginess. But after getting to know it, it's the sort of album you still want to sleep with. Rating: *****

Location Auckland, Auckland - New Zealand

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