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There’s been no shortage of alternative Australian artists making waves in the UK in recent years. Of course, there's Tame Impala, DMA’S, and Courtney Barnett, but also the likes of Stella Donnelly, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, and Amyl and the Sniffers. And Sydney four-piece PLANET, with their debut album Information Overload, too. 

PLANET vocalist Matty Took is the younger brother of DMA’S’ Johnny Took, but you’d be forgiven for thinking he was a relation of the trio’s frontman Tommy O’Dell too, such is the similarity of their respective singing voices. It’s the perfect fit for their hazy guitar pop and fuzzy, hooky indie rock too: relaxed but not lazy; causal yet emotional—as showcased on Information Overload. 

In some respects, the quartet are pretty similar to their elder indie brethren, but there’s a less obvious Britpop influence here...they’re hardly DMA’S-lite. Their influences are varied: they’ve mentioned indie royalty like REM and The Verve in interviews before, as well as The Eagles and Adelaide pub rock outfit Cold Chisel, and this range of influences definitely comes through. From the singalong indie of ‘Always Something’ to the sunny garage-pop of ‘Resign’, they’ve carved out a distinct space for themselves away from their peers.

Lyrics like “You've found a place that calls you/Under the northern skyline/Wrap up your memories and/Fly away from me” and “I can’t pull the reins in my head/They’re twisting all the same/Your voice is clear” evoke plenty of emotion, and manage to circumvent many of the sixth-form poetry-style turns of phrase we can so often come across in debut offerings. The words to ‘Resign’ are particularly sobering, contrasting with its carefree sound: “I'm breaking at the seams/Life was always short/I could climb a mountain/But never in your thought".

‘Pulse’ and ‘One To Keep You’ deviate from the usual style, slowing things down as artists often to towards the end of an album for the obligatory stirring finale, but they’re a mixed bag. ‘Pulse’ works: it has that anthemic quality needed for a track of this nature while keeping PLANET’s charm, but ‘One To Keep You’ is more of a grower, probably not packing the punch the band would have hoped for, but it’s well-placed on the album, right next to ‘Pulse’. 

Laid-back, hazy indie-pop melodies and just a hint of Britpop-esque swagger combine well to make an album that’s arriving at just the right time. Spring is coming; the days are getting longer, the weather’s getting (slightly) better, and the music’s flowing. It might not be summer yet, but stick Information Overload on and grab a drink, and you can pretend it is. 

Information Overload is out now.

Grab your copy of the Gigwise print magazine here.

More about: Planet