The Cannanes - Howling At All Hours LP

I remember buying this on CD not long after it came out, but something about it didn’t click properly with me at the time. But it hits different now!

The Go-Betweens seem to always be evoked as the stylistic forebears of the 2010s jangle pop (dolewave…) that came out through or adjacent to Chapter Music (Dick Diver, Twerps, The Stevens, Goon Sax, etc.) but really, the Cannanes should be the first port of call.

After forming in Sydney in 1984 and releasing a string of critically lauded albums, this was their first LP in over a decade. Fine-grain localist lyrical detail, trebly guitars that veer into jittery overdriven power-pop, and vocals that shift from catchy melodicism to speak-signing, and still among the best to do it to this day!
-Mitch

Artwork by David Nichols