WE GROW UP
Night Kitchen
(Half A Cow/MGM)
We Grow Up have been compared to everyone from The Beatles to Darren Hanlon, Crowded House to Elliot Smith, and these descriptions are flattering but reassuringly accurate. The young Adelaide band, who won a Triple J Unearthed competition in 2006, play indie folk pop with subtle hooks, charming melodies and intelligent lyrics that tell fascinating stories. Their second album Night Kitchen is pleasant but never bland, fragile yet bold, understated yet quietly powerful.
Singer-songwriters John Mortimer and Anthony Golding alternate between writing duties throughout the album’s thirteen songs. Opening track ‘I Wrote It All Down In My Diary,’ with its bouncy trumpet and lyrics about magic trips, has a quirky ‘Magical Mystery Tour’-style whimsy. ‘Little Vanity’ is tight, catchy and engaging. The accordion-tinged ‘Celia’ shows off the band’s gift for storytelling with a sad tale of forbidden love that finishes with a glorious, optimistic reprise.
Elsewhere, ‘Fingernails’ starts off with foreboding bass and creepy tapping percussion before rising into one of the album’s best choruses. ‘Office Christmas Party’ captures the ironic awkwardness of feeling gloomy on December 25, while ‘Crowded Room’ is a heart-breakingly sad ode to life post-breakup. Closing track ‘Feathers’ is a psychedelic soft-rock affair reminiscent of bands like Pink Floyd.
Night Kitchen is so accomplished and well-crafted that it’s hard to believe it came from such a young group. God only knows what We Grow Up will be capable of in the future.
HHHH Daniel Wynne