The Thousands

ASE, NASDAQ, NYSE, Deutsche Borche, Flying Nun. Stocks, fortunes, and people’s sanity are dealt, traded, and swapped within these entities; Flying Nun would have to be the only worthwhile ‘enterprise’ from the cocaine-fuelled lot. For 30 years the venerable New Zealand label has been investing in the best music from the land of the long white cloud, and The Bats would have to be the blue chip band in the stable’s portfolio.

Financial pidgin aside, I can safely say that their new album Free All the Monsters is a high quality LP. Much like The Go Betweens, The Bats are experts at chugging, romantically melancholic ballads. Album opener ‘Long Halls’ is a lilting song with an undulating wah-wah guitar, soaring strings, and Robert Scott’s forcefully soft vocals. ‘Spacejunk’ is a faster, jangly number with several differing guitar solos that comes as a delightful audio-phonic surprise to the ears.

With lines like “How I would love to throw it in/Make them pay for all their sins” on the beautiful ‘On the Bank’, it’s clear that that Scott is excising some career demons. However it’s also crystal clear that Free All The Monsters is a testament to The Bats’ lithe, influential footprint upon pop music. May they keep flying through the long white cloud.