Concrete Playground

It’s difficult to write anything about Adelaide six-piece Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! without engaging in a lengthy discussion about the non-existent history of “monolithic tech-pop”, but since I only have 200 words I’m going to avoid musing over the band’s self-conceived genre.

What’s important is what they sound like, and that’s a mix of keyed-up pop, angular guitars and dreamy synths fused with a shot of trip-hop feminine charm and a whole heap of vigorous energy. You only have to look at their name and you immediately feel sluggish in comparison. And with the help of fresh management and UK producer Gareth Parton (impresario of fellow ebulliently-christened bands The Go! Team and Holy Fuck) they’ve refined this eclectic sound into something that’s actually quite orderly.

Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! so far have a slew of high-rotation singles under their belts including “Little Cowboys”, “Bad Hombres” and “War Coward”, and their debut studio album Sea Priest has them touted as the next big thing. Still animated but slightly polished, see them at GoodGod while you can still do so for a tenner.