10/10 Would Listen: Cabana

Our salad days (read: days of being young and carefree) are often more poetic when remembered as adults in retrospect: I can't count the number of times I've imbued beautiful emotional meaning into what, at the time, was the dragging mundanity of daily life being a young person in a small coastal town. A lot of that poeticism is tied up in our personal soundtrack of the time, for me it was the coolly detached indie rock of Real Estate and Beach Fossils that dominated pivotal summers.

Five years on, Aussie 18 year-old three piece Cabana, comprised of Southern Melbourne musicians Gab (Japanese Wallpaper), Avi and Nushi, are making music that's cut from the same cloth as those dreamy indie-boy bands, and there's no doubt Cabana are set to soundtrack young peoples' summer memories anew. 

They've started their career as a band in strong form with last year's S/T debut EP, which you can get your hands on here. It's lead single, Done As Dinner, was a collosal offering of energetic indie-pop - with its irresitable guitar harmonies, atmospheric, swirling synths, and warm vocals, it was surely one of the vibey-est tracks of 2014, and the EP followed suite. We asked Gabe from Cabana to open up his music library for us, choose some favourite new finds, and explain their appeal. The results were impressive. Over to you, Gab:

LONTALIUS - THE REAL HER (DRAKE COVER)

There’s not really much to say about this except for that Eddie is really great and this makes me feel warm inside. You can put it on loop and get lost in its beauty for hours. 

LOCAL NATIVES - WHO KNOWS WHO CARES

I know this is old but I only found it the other day and I think it’s incredible - the horns and strings add so much to the intensity of the track and the vocal harmonies are ON POINT.

EDWARD FRANCIS - BRAVER 

Some really sweet intricate production here. Saxophones too, which is always a plus.

COURTNEY BARNETT - DEPRESTON

Courtney is probably our generation’s Paul Kelly or something... this song really serves as testament to her songwriting genius. 

THE JAPANESE HOUSE - STILL

This one kind of came out of nowhere the other day and it gives me all the feels :’’’’’( Incredible vocal performance and some beautiful sounds too.

OWEN PALLETT - A MAN WITH NO ANKLES

Too good for words really. Owen is a genius.

CATLIPS - FADE

This is a bit of a grower I think but give it a few listens and you won’t be able to stop listening.

PURITY RING - BEGIN AGAIN

Purity Ring is one of my favourite bands - I haven’t listened to their latest record in full yet but I’ve been hearing this around a lot and always get it stuck in my head.

KERO KERO BONITO - FLAMINGO

I love everything about this, it just exudes posi vibes +++++

ALEX G - SARAH

You can hear that this guy has poured his heart into every aspect of this song - he might not be the best technical singer but sometimes the flaws are what makes something this beautiful. 

Follow Cabana: FACEBOOK / TWITTER / SOUNDCLOUD