Do you believe in karma? Do ya? Do ya?"

The first words we heard from Body Type were accusatory, playful, coy. They dared you to look them in the eye. To pay attention.

The song those words came from, ‘Ludlow’, seemed too good to be true. It made a racket while staying astonishingly controlled; the vocals sounded more like a sample from fifties cinema than anything recorded in this century, so deliberate and devastating in their delivery. Follow-up single ‘264’ exists in a completely different realm to ‘Ludlow’, but it’s equally as astonishing, just as clever and wry and beautiful as its predecessor.

Live, Body Type exceed the expectations set by their singles. All four members – Sophie & Annabel on vocals and guitar, Cecil on drums, Georgia on vocals & bass – are vital. They are, on a musical and emotional level, inexorably linked, each member’s importance going beyond musical skill or personality.

It makes sense that the four members have this almost elemental connection – the story of the band’s inception gives the sense that there was something cosmic involved. It goes like this: Sophie, after a period living in New York, found herself in Sydney with a handful of Garageband demos needing a beat. Enter Cecil – drummer, old friend and fellow Perth native – who had also decamped to Sydney. They met Annabel soon after, and were completed when Georgia, another Perth survivor, joined on bass. The quartet played their first show in late-2016; less than a year later, they’ve played main support for cult heroes Japandroids, opened for luminaries like Frankie Cosmos, Big Thief, POND, and The Coathangers, and played Gizzfest and Sydney Festival and the inaugural Electric Lady Festival.

Coming this July is Body Type third record “Tally", via p(doom) records. Here, the everyday bits of life—taking a lift up to a boyfriend’s apartment, divvying up a bill—are transformed into sublime and surreal thrills. This is a luminous rock record, chronicling mundanity’s mystical implications, the deformations of romance and love’s confounding elasticity. Combining big, jagged riffs, moody post-punk and 60s pop, this is Body Type’s most self-assured and expansive record to date, which coincides with their 10th anniversary as a collective. It’s the sound of a band maturing and taking stock, but where wit and playfulness still reigns supreme.

Tracklist

SIDE A
A1. And What Else?
A2. Sick Bag
A3. Mulberry
A4. Eye Is A Mouth Is A Face
A5. Tally

SIDE B
B1. To Give A Rose
B2. Planet 8
B3. Gorgeous
B4. Do You Want To Cry Your Eyes Out?
B5. Everything All In A Row

Ep1 & Ep2

Tally