April in WA Music: Listen to new POND, Dulcie, Loston + more

The West Australian music scene has well and truly been shining in a lane of its own and its time we shed some light on the talented artists, making their name in and around Perth. Take a look at a few artists we are loving at the moment that are creating sounds that are cleverly defining WA’s music scene (in addition to the others we've talked about throughout the month too, from Solsta and Sex On Toast through to Methyl Ethel and Anesu).

POND - Pink Lunettes

POND are a group that needs no introduction to the West Australian music space, especially considering the imprint they've managed to make across the last decade. Led by the inimitable Nicholas Allbrook, the group have become heavyweights of the state's psychedelic-rock world - if not the country's psych-rock world, and how it's seen on an international scale - with album after album seeing the group doubling down on their craft and presenting something new and forward-thinking; their last album - 2019's Tasmania - being included within that.

Right at the very start of April saw POND debut their first single since Tasmania, with Pink Lunettes - once again, as expected - being a forward-thinking burst of POND's artistic brilliance, and how they're consistently able to push themselves with everything they release. So how does Pink Lunettes stand out from the rest? Well, it's a rushing five-minutes of energetic, quick-pacing mania; Allbrook dancing amongst a flourishing hot-bed of synth and drums that picks up momentum early on and doesn't ease off until it's over: "I think we managed to jitter along the neon tightrope between totally unhinged, strobing spontaneity and focused forward momentum," Allbrook says.

Dulcie - Ethereal 

Dulcie naming their latest single Ethereal is very apt, considering it's one of the many adjectives we've used to describe the four-piece over the last few years. The indie-pop band have blossomed into one of our favourites to come from West Australia's pop world, with an unexpectedly quick rise - thanks to their first two singles, Fall and Own Ground - now easing off into a slow, yet steady stream of new music that constantly feels rich with their talents and charm, including last year's near-angelic returning single Dust.

Arriving on the first day of April, Ethereal welcomed their debut into 2021, a year that's promising to be their biggest to-date. It's a captivating and poetic return from Dulcie, with their harmonising vocals swaying amongst an ocean of melodies; the single continuing to showcase Dulcie's ability to make complex and multi-faceted indie-pop with all the ease in the world. Excitedly, the single also comes with the announcement of their debut EP Sake Of Sound, which comes out on June 18th via their newly-launched own label, Lapis Lazuli. Stay tuned for more details on that soon.

Loston - Wait

We've had the pleasure of watching Perth-based designer/musician Loston really undergo a bit of a musical reinvention over the last few years; the West Australian favourite toying and experimenting with new tones and flavours in his recent work, including some far removed from the kind-of lo-fi, alt-electronica he made a bit of a name from a few years ago. Last year's big-name charity collaboration with SLUMBERJACK, TWERL, ShockOne and HWLS showed a glimpse of it, with Loston's presence on Inferno - a single written about and raising money for the catastrophic bushfires at the time - being instantly recognisable, and again it shows on his new single Wait, arriving just the other day.

Wait offers a glimpse at Loston reaching a new prime, taking the outer edges of his sound that we've seen him experiment in over the last year, and create something remarkable out of them. The end result merges his electronic backing with something a little rockier, capturing the heart of classic indie-electronica - think the live instrumentation of M83 and Bloc Party - with this updated and refined shine that shows how he's able to bring these sounds forward into 2021, something we're bound to see more of soon, with Wait being the first single from the musician's forthcoming debut album, expected later this year.

Man Sandal - Can't Mean Much

Perth-based five-piece Man Sandal are a local favourite for striking indie-folk, with the group having their foot on the neck of the city's live music space ever since their entrance back in 2017, with their debut EP Fancy Couch. Since then, Man Sandal have blossomed and evolved into something far-beyond the group they were back then, adding new members - including recent addition Julia Wallace - and fleshing out their sound with a series of releases in the time since, including this year's returning track Adulthood, the first taste of their forthcoming debut album Chess Club.

Can't Mean Much welcomes the album's second taste, and once again, it's a song that features Man Sandal at the peak of their newfound craft, showing how they're able to take their sound to the next level with everything they put out. Can't Mean Much does a great job of showing that, with singer Georgia Siciliano feeling almost-achingly powerful amongst the stirring, intimate backing of the track; Can't Mean Much obviously hitting with a more personal and reflective note, in what's perhaps the group's most touching single to date. Here's hoping their debut album brings more of it too.

Gia Como - Madeleine 

From the same label as Man Sandal (Rockton Records), Gia Como is a new project from Perth favourite Jack Arbuckle, known initially for their Spencer Arbuckle solo project and then as a founding member of Miraud, the synth-pop project who shared their debut album back in 2018, before refocusing on their respective own going-ons. Gia Como is what Jack has been working on since, with the project's two singles in 2020 - Love Myself! and A Matter Of Fact - showcasing this personal, yet bold and distinct sound that really feels like a new wave of brilliance from the musician, full of the charm and remarkability they've brought with their other projects over the years.

Madeleine keeps this continuing, carving this kind-of bittersweet sound as a moving backing track paints a picture for some incredibly poignant and touching lyricism, focusing on the loss of their twin in the womb and how it barrels into questions about gender and sexuality, and how Madeleine inspires Arbuckle's journey. Close friend and collaborator Pool Boy jumps on board to help out, and the end result is really something incredible - something definitely worth checking out.