Cry Club, Hozier, Kee’ahn & More: This Week’s Best New Music

Cry Club – Bad Taste

Fired up and ready to wreak havoc, Cry Club returned today with their incendiary second album, Spite Will Save Me. It’s stacked from start to end with explosive queer anthems like Somehow (You Still Get To Me), People Like Me and I Want More, but it’s the album’s deep cuts – like the equally catchy and convulsive Bad Taste – that stand out the most. This track was inspired by the “frontman sex appeal” of rock legends like Jim Morrison (of The Doors fame), Michael Hutchence (INXS) and Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance), as Cry Club frontperson Heather Riley explains: “This song became our version of that, like [exploring] how intoxicating it can be to pull someone in, but acknowledging that it always ends in fucking disaster.” Also today, the Naarm/Melbourne-based “bubblegum punk” duo revealed a national tour in support of Spite Will Save Me – suss it out here!

Hozier – Unknown / Nth

The latest preview of Hozier’s upcoming third album, Unreal Unearth, is hypnotising slow-burn that surges with beauty. The production is notably minimal, allowing Andrew Hozier-Byrne to shine unrestrained with his soulful fingerpicking and rich, honeyed drawl. The climax of Unknown / Nth is, like on many other Hozier songs, where the energy suddenly swells into its eruption, with angelic and gospel-esque vocal harmonies (a Hozier staple) and subtle, yet moving orchestration. With the release of this track, the follow-up to 2019’s Wasteland, Baby! (out August 18) is shaping up to be an impressively diverse album – lead single Eat Your Young was poppy and bright, while All Things End followed with more of a bluesy, soul-tinged flair, and Francesca flipped the script entirely with its punchy rock’n’roll. 

Kee’ahn – Sunsets

“Beautiful” doesn’t come close to describing Sunsets, Kee’ahn’s first new track for 2023, which melds their ethereal vocals with a crisp 808, a funky bassline and simmering orchestration. According to Kee’ahn theirself, the new tune is about “pausing and connecting with spirit and country”. They continued: “It’s about being present, listening and remembering what’s important.’ It was produced by Alice Ivy, who Kee’ahn gushes was “so fun to work with”. As for what she added to the track, Kee’ahn explained, ‘She has a sunny positive energy, and I learned so much from being in the studio with her. I feel like we really painted the picture of longing to swim in waterfalls, run along the sand and chase after golden hour.” Kee’ahn wrote Sunsets as a reflection of their journey back home to north Queensland, where they embraced their roots as a proud Yalanji, Jirrbal and Badulaig person.

Alice Ivy – Howlin’ At The New Moon (ft. Mayer Hawthorne)

Alice Ivy also has her own new banger on this list, returning today with the Mayer Hawthorne-assisted Howlin’ At The New Moon. It’s a huge release for the Djilang/Geelong-native artist – not only does it feature her own vocals for the first time since 2018 (when she sung on a few tracks for her second album, I’m Dreaming), but it also  comes alongside the double-whammy news that she’s signed to Helix Records and will release her third studio album, Do What Makes You Happy, later this year (a concrete release date is yet to be confirmed). She said of the origin story for Howlin’ At The New Moon: “I was internally losing my shit as soon as [Hawthorne] started putting his vocals down. What you hear on the track are all first takes! Absolutely flawless. Hands down one of my favourite collaborations of all time.”

PVRIS – Evergreen

The title track for PVRIS’ fourth album, Evergreen – the first effort to come from the project as Lynn Gunn’s solo vehicle – is intoxicating, driven by a smoky, warbling synth and razor-sharp percussion. Gunn says it’s reflective of how PVRIS has evolved over the past 11 years, and continues to on this game-changing fourth LP: “If you search the definition of ‘evergreen’, you will find words like ‘enduring’, ‘timeless’, ‘fresh’, ‘unlimited’ and ‘renewal’. In our modern culture where everything is online, algorithm-based, and instantaneous, it feels like timelessness, longevity and connection could someday become dying concepts. More than ever, PVRIS has [been] and always will be anti-formula, anti-virality, and anti-instant gratification.” The Evergreen album itself comes out on July 14, and will also feature previous singles Animal, Anywhere But Here, Goddess, Good Enemy and Love Is A…

You can listen to the Hit List playlist featuring all the above songs and more on Apple Music or Spotify. We also have our Underground playlists that showcase the best of Australia's emerging artists. Find them here.