.
.
“AMNPLIFY SINGLE + VIDEO PREMIERE”
Brisbane band
HALFWAY
are excited to release
‘MATCHES’
the second single
from their new album
THE STYX
set for release
on July 4th
.
.
PAST PRESS
“A sublime country dusted album… bringing the driving melancholy of early Wilco and classic R.E.M. up to date, to your doorstep.” David Fricke (Rolling Stone) on Rain Lover
“The Brisbane-based alt-country band trap the power of memories and sing of Australian dreams and triumphs.” Sydney Morning Herald on On the Ghostline, with Hands of Lightning
“Halfway are a modern treasure on the Australian musical landscape, always cutting to the heart and soul of their music with each record they produce. On Rain Lover they have topped even their own lofty standards.” Post To Wire
“An utterly beguiling piece of work in both scope and execution.” The Music on Any Old Love
“Halfway are characterised by a rare kind of understated cohesion.” Mess + Noise on An Outpost of Promise
.
.
“AMNPLIFY SINGLE + VIDEO PREMIERE”
.
Halfway have been a band for quarter of a century, and across that time they’ve made eight studio albums, each of which has received a wealth of critical acclaim. From their origins in 2000, Halfway have developed their style and songs into cinematic soundscapes, lush with pedal steel, densely layered guitars, and driving rhythms.
Halfway’s new album, The Styx, features the return to the fold of band co-founder Chris Dale after a six-year absence, and contributions from guests including Chris Abrahams (The Necks, Midnight Oil) and Adele Pickvance (The Go-Betweens).
‘The Palace’ was the first taste of the new album and now they reveal the second single ‘Matches’, written by John Busby and bassist Ben Johnson.
The song creaks and shimmers to life courtesy of its gently sparkling guitars and atmospheric keys. Drums enter the fray as the music swells and expands into an evocative sound akin to the best of Mercury Rev, where musical dreams and memories coexist.
“The coals of a fire are neither flame nor ash. ‘Matches’ sits in the space between ignition and extinction, rooted in uncertainty,” says Johnson. “The stories of The Styx inhabit that uncertain ground where nothing is fully on or off, alive or gone. What begins as fire ends as cinders and lingers softly afterward.”
‘MATCHES’ IS OUT NOW VIA BANDCAMP, AND STREAMING SERVICES, PLUS AMRAP
The Styx is now available for pre-order from Plus One Records. Bundles include, gatefold transparent green vinyl, CD, and limited edition t-shirts.
.
THE STYX
1. The Styx
2. The Palace *
3. Pale Blue Sky
4. Matches *
5. Lost By Design
6. Min Min Light
7. The Prospect
8. Desert Light
9. Ruby, The Stage
10. True To You
.
.
A concept album of sorts, The Styx is situated in a remote Australian coastal town during the Christmas of 1986 and explores themes of family, isolation, love, and betrayal.
“Growing up, my family would spend time at Stanage Bay in Central Queensland, which is a small fishing village situated to the southeast of the Styx River. It was a remote and beautiful place,” reflects Busby. He didn’t know anything about Greek mythology but saw the beauty and the danger there just the same. On fishing trips with his father and a cast of characters who might have walked out of the pages of a John Steinbeck story, he must have heard a hundred times: “People drown in here.” Seeds were planted.
“The whole Stanage Bay / Styx River area, and the people there, are a big part of this record. When some of the band and our friends started to inform the songs, I knew I had to set it at the bay,” says Busby. “It’s a place full of beauty and mystery. I had been wanting to base a story there for a long time.”
There is nothing mythic about these stories of love, lust, longing, and leaving, which feel as real as an errant fishhook deep into flesh. Brothers George and Lennie are the kind of hard-bitten characters who might be found in stories by Steinbeck or Richard Flanagan, battling the elements and themselves and always with an eye out for the fishing inspectors. Just before daylight, Lennie goes to check the nets. He doesn’t return.
The recording of the album took on a different form for the band, who recorded themselves in Brisbane before Mark Nevers (Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Lambchop, Calexico, George Jones) shaped the mix of the songs at his South Carolina studio, with Busby alongside him. “We usually just record live in a room, but this one started quietly. Just my guitar and vocals, layering it track by track, and then recording the drums last. A weird back-to-front album, but it gave us the chance to put the story / songs first rather than concentrate on how the songs would work live.”
The sound the band has concocted is one of sweeping beauty and sonic grace, both heartfelt and tragic. Guitar strings and keys wash across the speakers, like the ocean breeze and the river tide. Drawing on the influence of bands such as The Triffids and Phosphorescent, Halfway seamlessly blend alt-country and indie rock sensibilities, providing the songs with a hypnotic and compelling backdrop to these poetic tales from the Australian coastline.
As in their songs, as in life. Love lost and found, the pain and the hope, the past and the landscape ever-present. Great songwriting often finds a way to make the deeply personal feel universal. Few bands navigate that path as surely as Halfway across their nine timeless albums.
.
.
THE STYX
Album Launch Shows
BRISBANE
Saturday July 5th @ The Old Museum, Bowen Hills
* Two sets
FB EVENT TICKETS
SYDNEY
Saturday July 26th @ The Factory Floor, Marrickville
w/ Knievel + The Electorate
FB EVENT TICKETS
MELBOURNE
Saturday September 13th @ Wesley Anne, Northcote
.
“AMNPLIFY SINGLE + VIDEO PREMIERE”
.
Follow HALFWAY
Bandcamp
Website – Instagram – Facebook – Spotify
.
.
AMNPLIFY – DB
My nickname is “The Amnplifier”. Why? Because around here my focus is on being a conduit for providing greater outcomes that people come here for. My day to day “work” is living in the moment, and I love helping others concentrate on finding their connection to themselves through their experiences.
Why start a music environment? The truth is I love music, I love writing, and I love life. I work with musicians every day, and I feel certain that I will be until they put me in the ground. I have been managing people in businesses of some sort for over thirty five years so along the way I have developed some “wisdom” from my regular and constant “observations”.
Amnplify your experience. That is what we want you to do here, and if you want to let me know why you do, or don’t, shoot me a message on Facebook.
Hope you enjoy yourself here and find something that hits you somewhere.