Again

*Again* may be the second album from Melbourne indie rockers The Belair Lip Bombs, but it also has the distinction of being the first release by an Australian band on Jack White’s Third Man Records label. Produced by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s vocalist/guitarist Joe White and The Teskey Brothers’ sound engineer Nao Anzai, the album distills the group’s penchant for ragged, tightly wound indie guitar rock and deceptively catchy pop melodies, while introducing dreamy piano to the restrained “Burning Up,” a synth loop to the Kings of Leon-esque “Hey You,” energetic horns to frantic opener “Again and Again,” and a Replacements-like swagger to “If You’ve Got the Time.” Lyrically, vocalist/guitarist Maisie Everett draws inspiration from myriad places. “Don’t Let Them Tell You (It’s Fair)” is a lesson in resilience and believing in yourself, inspired in part by a conversation with fellow songwriter Alex Lahey, who told Everett that you have to make your own luck. The singer puts her emotive voice to heightened use in “Back of My Hand” as she implores a romantic partner to trust in their connection, while “Hey You” is a solemn yet catchy account of complications in a relationship (“I don’t really know where I went wrong/Are you really done turning me on?”). The band take their greatest creative leap in the gentle “Burning Up,” trading white-hot six-strings for piano and waves of atmospheric guitar as Everett combs through the wreckage of a failed romance (“If you ask me, baby/For a second chance/I would hold onto you until my final breath/I never meant to hurt you, baby”).

At an exciting time for Australian music as a cultural export, The Belair Lip Bombs’ Third Man debut, 'Again', establishes them as a new great hope.

First and foremost, Again is an earnest guitar record packed with The Belair Lip Bombs sticky power-pop songs.

The Belair Lip Bombs' second album, 'Again', sees the Melbourne lot doubling down on what they do best.

Australian indie group Belair Lip Bombs showed plenty of promise on their 2023 debut album, 'Lush Life'. Interest around the group has increased

Again by The Belair Lip Bombs album review by Dom Lepore for Northern Transmissions. The band's LP drops on October 31 via Third Man