ALBUM LAUNCH | The Smith Street Band 'More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me'
‘More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me’ is the fourth studio album from Melbourne folk-punk group The Smith Street Band.
The band launched this new release with a low-key, private gig at Second Story Studios in Collingwood - just a few blocks away from Smith Street. It is arguably the most professional and polished work from the group; however, it remains comfortably grounded by frontman Will Wagner’s trademark off-kilter, howling vocals.
It’s incredibly difficult to talk about The Smith Street Band in third person, as an impartial reviewer, because everything these guys create feels so intensely personal.
Wagner is a poet, and we are so extraordinarily lucky that his lyrics have found a flawless vehicle in the talent, drive, and authenticity of The Smith Street Band.
‘More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me’ in particular celebrates the triumph of existing through all of life’s messy high and lows, in a way that will speak to anyone who struggles at times to put one foot in front of the other; this is, obviously, all of us. The triumphs are small, familiar miracles - the ‘momentary bliss of wasted time’ and the pain is pedestrian and every-day, like feeling you ‘do not reach out enough’.
Track by track, ‘More Scared’ technically chronicles a failed relationship from start to finish, but in doing so brushes up against so many of the ordinary moments we’ve all experienced.
‘More Scared’ explores everything from the quiet nostalgia of growing older to the exhilaration of doing stupid things late at night, and despite the rowdy vocals, screaming guitars, addictive bass lines, and powerful drums it does so with delicacy and finesse. Listening to The Smith Street Band play a song about about a moment in time feels less like hearing music and more like the sensation of running your fingertips over an old scar, or breathing in the scent of home.
At the very small, very personal launch party, the band played their latest album top to bottom, with the overall effect balancing precariously between transcendent and emotionally exhausting.
No-one builds albums quite like The Smith Street Band, and ‘More Scared’ is no exception. The stories told here don’t just relate to you, they feel like they’re from you, and there’s a sensation which may be a distant cousin to horror when you hear a line and say to yourself “oh - how did they know?”
It’s like someone lifted an eyelid while you slept, and peered directly into your subconscious while taking extensive notes below headings like ANXIETY, TIMES I LAUGHED UNTIL I CRIED, and PEOPLE WHO WERE BAD FOR ME.
Beyond the immensely human lyrics, each track ebbs and flows according to a rhythm that feels very clever after the fact and completely natural when you’re in the moment. They rest and let you sip your beer, then they build, and inevitably they scream and demand that you scream back. Which you will, especially if you’re one of a relatively small group of people in an upstairs studio hearing an album live for the first time. You will scream the words back until you feel your chest will burst, and that would be a relief.
By the time Wagner reminds us that it’s okay to not know everything, and metallic confetti flutters down to the concrete, we have collectively drank the venue out of its house beer and I at least feel like I’ve come out the other side of a therapy session. Every gig feels a bit that way - some more than others, but this one most of all.
‘More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me’ can be purchased from Pool House Records as a CD, Vinyl, or Digital Download.
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