Irish/Australian duo Age have released their debut single ‘Peaks’, a blissfully atmospheric pop anthem which merges tropical beats with shimmering synths, painting a lush picture of a city filled with light and shade. Gavin Dwight and Jen Cosgrave layer their dreamlike vocal harmonies over washes of electronic grooves and hypnotic claps, making ‘Peaks’ not only an astoundingly confident introduction but a statement of intent from a band with plenty more up their sleeves. Age co-produced the single with mixing engineer Russ Fawcus (Wild Beasts, Noah And The Whale) and it was mastered by Mandy Parnell (Jamie XX, The Knife).

Like all great pop songs, Dwight tells us there’s a personal meaning behind its lyrics; “We wrote ‘Peaks’ at a time when we could see a lot of people around us crossing over the line of what's safe and not taking care of themselves. We live in a place and a city where it's too easy to do. It's a love song to those people.”

After playing in various other bands, they’ve since split their time writing and recording from bedroom sessions in Clapton to overnight shifts at North London's Tileyard studios (before they were kicked out to make way for Lily Allen). Despite forming last year and only having played a small number of warm-up shows, they recently supported Temper Trap and played the Radio X/AIM Awards. The band are currently in the studio working with producer Paddy Baird (brother of Two Door Cinema Club bassist, Kevin Baird), on their debut EP.

Australian punk four-piece Gold Class are sharing a new video and single, 'Rose Blind', which is the second track to be unveiled from their upcoming album, Drum, set for release on August 18 via Felte. Drum is the bold second album from Gold Class. The follow-up to 2015 debut It’s You, Drum is a brasher, vivid widescreen account of a band hitting its stride while betraying the complex signs and scars of a life since lived. 

Formed in 2014 by a union of workmates and friends from a Melbourne bar and creative-writing course, Gold Class’ string of lean, explosive live shows culminated in It’s You – a distillation of the then-fledgling group’s wiry punk, carried by Curley’s booming baritone and themes of personal politics, sexuality and identity. The album was shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize and nominated for an Age award, and saw Gold Class play sold out shows across Australia and London, at local festivals Golden Plains and Splendour in The Grass, as well as international sets at SXSW, London Calling and Primavera Sound.

Recorded at Melbourne’s Head Gap studios and produced by Gareth Liddiard of The Drones, Drum sees Gold Class explore new territory in both songwriting and sonics. Liddiard was instructive in helping the band capture these new moods. “We wanted to take a risk,” says Curley. “He was the one person everyone felt could do something interesting with the album." Drum distils the messy scope of life into a brave, sometimes brutal but beautiful new document. Whatever will come, the beat – at least – goes on.

Drum tracklist: 

01. Twist In The Dark  

02. Rose Blind

03. Get Yours

04. Trouble Fun

05. Bully

06. Thinking Of Strangers

07. We Were Never Too Much

08. Mercurian

09. Place We Go

10. Lux