STUMPS

‘Just Another Stay At Home Son’

(EP Review)

Reviewer: Georgia Dickinson

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In a genre that gets fairly repetitive fairly quickly, Sydney-based quartet STUMPS bring a fresh new flavour to indie rock that has caught the eyes of punters and industry figureheads alike. They’ve received national airplay on triple j, joined the family of alternative gig bookers 123 Agency, and now, release their first full body of work in the form of a 5-song EP named ‘Just Another Stay At Home Son’. With the amount of hype surrounding the band’s previous releases, it was intriguing to see how the band would continue their winning streak with their sudden debut to the world. And it’s safe to say it’s far from disappointing.

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‘Just Another Stay At Home Son’ starts with STUMPS‘s previous release ‘This Home Is Mine’, which brings out the best parts of the band. It’s got extremely likeable guitar tones, tight percussion and extremely unique vocals from frontman Kyle Fisher. It’s got plenty of influence from their counterparts in Dear Seattle with singalong “na na na”s, but all in all, sounds unique and incredibly promising as a familiar tune.

‘We’ll Do It Anyway’ kicks right back up from where ‘This Home Is Mine’ concludes. The same guitar tones at the same pace, but Fisher’s vocals are higher, more intense but still pleasant to the ear. We get a calmer side of STUMPS through the bridge and breakdown, Fisher is quiet in the way he presents the story but all in all can barely contain himself as the final chorus of ‘We’ll Do It Anyway’ kicks back into a faster gear.

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In the midst of this EP is fan favourite ‘Matthew McConaughey’, a slow bloomer that surprises you in the fact that it wasn’t released as the first single. It’s one of the only melancholic parts of the release, full of self-depreciation as it repeats the line “I guess I’m just a fuckwit today”. However, once Fisher screams “Maybe someday I’ll be like Matthew McConaughey”, it’s understandable as to why it’s already a cult classic in the band’s small repertoire.

The latter half of ‘Just Another Stay At Home Son’ includes the first song they ever released – ‘Piggyback’, which is a light-hearted song about getting pissed with the mates, juxtaposed with the closer ‘Toulouse’. The darker side of this band comes out in this finale, as the members of STUMPS pull out all stops to showcase that they cannot be defined to a single kind of characteristic. ‘Toulouse’ could easily be pinpointed as the underrated section of this EP, where the musicianship of this band’s entity really shines through to the listener.

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There’s no EP that is quite that STUMPS’s ‘Just Another Stay At Home Son’. Each song brings in a new element of raw talent and musicianship to the table, all while including the imminent sound that STUMPS contains and leaving you wanting more when you’re finished. Most of all, it soars the expectations it contained through its well-recieved singles of ‘This Home Is Mine’ and ‘Piggyback’ and it makes you wonder when and what will STUMPS do next.

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