Hydroplane - Selected Songs 1997-2003 2LP

Just when I thought we’d maybe hit peak reissue of Oz indie/jangle/twee pop and we were beginning to scrape the bottom of the barrel, World Of Echo hit us with a double LP of killer Hydroplane singles and B-sides!

This is the material that last year’s Efficient Space reissue of the band’s debut (along with the swathe of reissues of associated acts Cat’s Miaow and the Shapiros) hinted at: a continuation of indie songwriting into something more abstract, open ended, and woozy.

The sentimental, lovelorn lyrics and verb’d out vocals of Kerrie Bolton are underscored with crystalline guitars, hazy synthesis and trip hop beats. Songs seem to take on organic forms that don’t strictly abide to rhyming schemes or traditional pop song structures, instead favouring atmosphere and texture.

A collection that puts forward a case for Hydroplane to be included in the pantheon of late 90s/early 00s acts like Stereolab or Yo La Tengo that pushed at the edges of pop songwriting, the pop success of figures like Beth Orton, or suggests a missing link to the localised and colloquial songwriting of The Cannanes, or the lofi haziness of groups like Cindy.
-Mitch