Last year’s LA Vampires club-cruise across Australia unearthed a multitude of uplifting experiences (Cairns hippie aerialists, Newcastle hardcore, Melbourne acid sangria, etc), but chief among them was the live actualization of Sydney post-power trio Holy Balm, who slyly gene-splice strands of mutant new wave, freeform house, digital trashcan tribalism, and minimalist pop into something playful, primitive, and splatterpaint-party perfect. After a few micro-limited split tapes and a single 7”, the band finally enlisted the help of Jon Hunter at Magnetic Recording Council Studios to record and mix their debut full-length, resulting in the whacked-out hypercolor majesty of It’s You. Comprised of live classics (“Take It,” “Holy Balm Theme,” “Town Called Hope”) as well as some wild, extended studio experiments (“Phone Song,” “One & Only”), plus a Y Pants cover, the album captures HB’s wobbly electronic freak-funk and paradise garage grooves gloriously. September finds them embarking on their first ever U.S. tour/voyage so now’s the time to Balm up. Released in Australia via esteemed pan-genre punkers R.I.P. Society. Funky cactus cover artwork and layout by Sydney conceptual painter Mitch Cairns.
