Party Punisher by Cool Sounds

Cool Sounds is the key project of Melbourne-based pop polymath Dainis Lacey, with a live band that often sees 6+ musicians crowded onstage. Across five albums to date, Cool Sounds’ shapeshifting indie rock blends 80s pop, cheerful funk, and alt-country, all with a lightness of touch that disguises Lacey’s thoughtful, perceptive songwriting. Deeply embedded within the wider Melbourne jangle community but totally in their own pocket, Cool Sounds make music that will make you smile.

Dain says of the new record: "It’s a road album that captures scenes and stories from playing shows and traveling around Europe and the US. It includes near-death experiences and a sense of being thankful to be alive, a rough weekend in Vegas, oversharing Uber drivers, friends falling in love, a detailed account of buying a musical instrument (Congas!)

Joined by Dylan Young (Good Morning, Way Dynamic, Snowy Band), Dain recorded the album in his Melbourne apartment over a few weeks: "We tried to make it sound like a collage full of fun and youthfulness, drawing inspiration from Gorillaz, Phoenix, Bruce Hornsby, college radio, and The Avalanches". The album features an abundance of sampling, which isn’t new for Cool Sounds, but instead of samples being in the periphery of the songs like in past releases, here the band revels in their playfulness by putting them front and centre.