WL//WH Track Of The Day: SOFT COVERS Gives an Inside Look Into “The Real Housewives of Porpoise Spit”

WL//WH Track Of The Day  Soft Covers  

After kicking around in a steady stream of Meanjin/Brisbane‘s bands over the years, such as Dumb Things, People Mover and Future Haunts, Laura, James and Dan started their new musical venture, dubbed Soft Covers, apparently meeting each other over a free afternoon and a last-minute practice room vacancy.

Now relocated to Naarm/Melbourne, with a homemade 2020 first 6-track cassette “Permanent Part Time” behind them, replete with Down Under lo-fi Jangly Guitar Pop appeal, the trio takes things seriously for their debut album “Soft Serve”, turning to a real recording studio, while at the same time, the instrumentation expands, inspirations widens, and themes deepen, although the DIY-aesthetic and exuberant approach remains the same.

The first teaser from those sessions is the inspired single “The Real Housewives of Porpoise Spit”, more textured and energetic, less jangle, than before, yet still distinctive of the band’s melodic, wistful, and gently endearing Indie Pop style.

“The Real Housewives of Porpoise Spit” is an ode to the beautifully tragic life of fictional matriarch Betty Heaslop from the iconic film Muriel’s Wedding. Buoyed by a wobbly mellotron twinkle in place of a standard guitar riff, the song appraises the feelings of inadequacy and transparency felt by women of a certain age, particularly mothers, and speculates what Betty Heaslop might have confided to a close friend or anyone who bothered to show her an ounce of kindness.

Infused with nostalgic, soul-stirring emotional pain, “The Real Housewives of Porpoise Spit” arouses steady urgent drum beats, soft bass pulses, and sadly wandering vibrant ringing guitar riffs, enhanced by warm bittersweet trumpet-like keyboard swells, to underlie evocative atmospheric vocals, dropping high angsty melancholia with sad baritone haloes and distant choral echoes, telling the tale of an old lonely woman who dreams about being perfect like the fabled Ms. Jones.

Soft Covers‘ debut LP, “Soft Serve”, is due out on October 6, 2023 via Little Lunch Records (AUS) and Hidden Bay Records (EU).

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Photo by Madeleine Keinonen