“Melbourne is as Melbourne does”…I am not quite sure why I am adapting Forest Gump sayings in the opening paragraph of a review. In fact I am not quite sure of anything much, apart from somewhere in the quaintest recesses of my mind I have convinced myself the adaptation somehow fits this debut album by the city’s latest ;dolewave darlings’, The Sprouts.

For this Eat Your Greens album seems to cherry pick the best that Melbourne jangle has to offer and re-engineer with more definitive Sprout-isms . It’s most potent tracks are best represented by lead single I Hear Music, Doorbell, Hammer and I Want To Be An Idiot. All offer the traditional dolewave vibe offered by fellow Melbourne acts such as The Stroppies and House Deposit and augmented such an aesthetic with off kilter, twanging tinny riffs and a slight coastal slacker that are more uniquely The Sprouts.

However, the very best of release emerges when the tempo drops to sub mid tempo. Here Memories, Go Back Again and Hold Together increase the slacker emphasis and moves towards the deliberated sound that is so perfectly laconic in other Aussie acts such as Lachlan Denton’s solo project or their Tenth Court labelmates Spice World.

Fans of ‘all things Melbourne’ will most definitely find ‘all things Melbourne’ in this superb release.

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