ALBUM REVIEW: Mini Skirt – All That We Know (Bad Vibrations)
Pub-punks Mini Skirt are the latest Australian export to threaten to make it big on these shores, after the likes of Amyl & The Sniffers and The Chats.
Formed about 10 years ago in Byron Bay, in the far-northeastern corner of New South Wales, they’ve released a bunch of singles and one previous album, 2020’s Casino.
Like their fellow Aussies, Mini Skirt play it loud and mean, with few frills. Dirty riffs and driving bass and drums are their stock in trade, with gnarly vocalist Jacob Boylan half singing and half talking his way through songs.
I don’t know if it’s cultural differences or deliberate obtuseness, but despite repeated listens I confess to having no idea what most of the 11 songs on All That We Know are about.
Lead single Pottsville River gets things off to a lively start, powered by a raw, droning riff throughout. The repetitive chorus of Roundabouts gives the album its name, while Smart Enough‘s languid feel is brightened up by stabs of Television-like guitar.
Second single Been A While sees Boylan go off on a stream of consciousness ramble over chugging power chords, while White Range Club seems to be a rant about modern development.
Mud seems to be about urban decay as Boylan sings “This whole town smells like death/Swimming home just to hold my breath” while the lo-fi garage-punk single Squeeze Down is about feeling isolated and misunderstood.
A great bassline and shards of post-punk guitar punctuate Stay Soft, while Ned Kelly Letter Box (no idea wtf that’s about!) sets up closing track Series 3, about going home after a death in the family.
It’s a gritty album, full of raw, urgent music which sits somewhere in the yawning chasm between garage-punk and post-punk, and there’s plenty to enjoy here. I just wish I knew what it all meant. 7/10.
