Concerts

Get rocking with Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever at The Sinclair

The inspired Australian quintet will highlight material from "Endless Rooms" on August 3.

Photo by Nick Mckk

2 minutes to read

Being described as reminiscent of stateside indie/alternative bands such as R.E.M. and The Feelies and also Down Under ones such as The Church, The Go-Betweens, and The Clean can be a blessing and a curse.

Granted, I am sure that the Melbourne-based Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have no objection to being included favorably in such company.

However, fans of artists whose sounds are utterly unimpeachable on their own terms are probably inclined to home in on how a band inspired by them falls short, rather than on how they carry the jangle pop torch in an in-good-faith, non-ironic, and reverent fashion.

Personally, I grew up hearing or have long since familiarized myself with RBCF’s influences. Therefore, I feel fairly confident in my assertion that many if not most of their admirers will find much to appreciate on the two EPs and three LPs – all on Sub Pop in the U.S. and Ivy League in Australia – that this quintet has released since 2016.

Bound by the bonds of family and enduring friendship, RBCF comprises cousins Fran Keaney and Joe White, their long-time mate Tom Russo (each of whom sings and plays guitar), his brother Joe (bass), and Keaney’s one-time roommate Marcel Tussie (drums).

Thus, a perfect storm of artistic and personal intuitiveness and potential for conflict that naturally simmers among well-acquainted individuals brews among its members.

Okay, so that might be a bit overdramatic, although the 2017 song “The French Press” indicates that it’s not completely off. Suffice it to say that the dynamic within this group allows it to continually find ways of sounding both delectably retro and frenetically fresh.

For a starter pack, check out “An Air Conditioned Man” and “Talking Straight” from 2018’s “Hope Downs,” “She’s There” and “Cars in Space” from 2020’s “Sideways To New Italy,” and “The Way It Shatters” and “My Echo” from this year’s “Endless Rooms,” the latter of which captures their jangly, three-guitar attack as effectively as anything that they have recorded.

Once these whet your aural appetite, get yourself a ticket to the smorgasbord of auditory delights bound to make up the band’s August 3 show at The Sinclair – their first in the area since 2019’s Boston Calling.

(And no, I don’t know what Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever means or what good it does to sometimes abbreviate it as Rolling Blackouts C.F.)