Umpire
Now We’re Active
(Hidden Shoal)
There’s no doubting the indie rock pedigree of Perth’s Umpire. Three of the four members played in the classic mid-’90s band Adam Said Galore as well as in last decade’s well-loved Mukaizake, who resurrected themselves for an EP in 2009. Umpire released an EP that same year, making a debut that included the WAMi-winning single ‘Streamers’. That song reappears on this long-awaited first album and typifies the band’s blend of math-y mechanics, cryptic imagery, and heartfelt vocals. These songs are both cerebral and sentimental, swerving through tricky structures and wordplay even as singer-guitarist Geoff Symons waxes romantic.
That combination works better than you’d expect. Like Transatlanticism-era Death Cab for Cutie, Umpire uses the dramatic tides and crashes of post-rock and math-rock to heighten the emotion of what’s essentially muscular guitar-pop. On tracks like ‘The Canyon’, there’s a clean-cut lilt to Symons’ voice that can’t help but recall Ben Gibbard’s. That said, these songs also have the stop-start volatility of cult ’90s guitar heroes like Polvo and Chavez. Produced with absolute crispness by bassist Simon Struther, the instruments move like an intricate conversation between old friends. Which makes sense, given the long history of these players.
As familiar as much of this, there’s no shortage of idiosyncratic traits. ‘Supply Chins’ brings in pumping horns, while ‘Corner an Owl in an Alcove’ opens with smooth call-and-response vocals and closely abruptly with an in-studio laugh. ‘On the Fringes’ moves more slowly before locating the spectre of classic rock in a way that recalls Built to Spill. And ‘Jewellery can be Disturbing’ ploughs ahead with a full-blooded psych hook yet fashions a very catchy chorus out of its titular phrase. Even the cheesy lyrics of ‘Cyclones into Sunshowers’ are offset by some awfully cool guitar.
This is a very specific kind of indie rock: inventive and self-aware but grounded in ringing melodies and lived-in emotions. Now We’re Active is weird, guitar-addled fun.
Doug Wallen
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Umpire - 'Green Light District'