When I interviewed Dan Sultan last year and asked him what local bands he was into at the moment he said, admitting that he rarely went out to see bands, “The Hello Morning. I see them whenever I can.” Hardly surprising when you realise that The Hello Morning frequently serve has Sultan’s backing band when he is doing the full shebang: electric soul nights like Dan’s launch for Get Out While You Can spring to mind, and a tighter more exciting act is hard to conjure than the one on display that night.
At last, The Hello Morning are releasing their own debut. Essentially formed around the core songwriting team of Stephen Clifford and Matthew John Smith, the Melbourne collective – currently a group of six – have pushed out a couple of tracks from the upcoming LP, namely lead single “Stone Cold Morning.”
Opening with a lovely little rattlesnake and intricate percussion, the striding tempo is immediately addictive. Clifford’s raspy, sure, voice introduces the story confident it can see through the narrative’s protagonist. Backing vocals kindly support his emotive, bluesy cries as a full and layered band create waves of keys, jangling country guitars and quickstep basslines. There’s a lot going on in there – sonically and lyrically – and this kind of professionally, emotionally, rendered country/soul storytelling – as their mate Dan knows – is just the type of music Melbourne is made of. If recent reviews in NME are anything to go, the world is watching too. A strong taste of things to come.
– Melanie Lewis
The Hello Morning officially release their debut single “Stone Cold Lover” on Thursday 12 January at the Northcote Social Club. They release their debut LP in early Feb. Stay in touch with them on Facebook for full details. Check out the clip for Stone Cold Lover.
