Mum Smokes have been very quiet since 2007 with their last live appearance being at the Dirty Three-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties in the UK. But with a double album loaded with pop gems and instrumental curiosities it appears to be time for these Melbourne abstract popsters to come in from the cold.
 
Originally a three piece formed in 2003, the band is now made up of four songwriters already well known to Melbourne punters: The Ancients’ Jonathan Michell, Karl Scullin of KES Band fame, Julian Patterson from Minimum Chips and Zond’s Justin Fuller.
 
Easy/House Music is the band’s first offering since 2005’s much-lauded Railroads, Chasms, and Fantasies and, though packaged together, the two albums are very much stand-alone works. The 31 songs swing from quiet acoustic reflections, rippling instrumentals and white noise sunsets, to lo-fi pop and the occasional rockier number, and chart the evolution of the group from 2006 right through to late 2008.
 
It’s a difficult collection to categorize, but despite the broad spectrum of styles at play, there is a unity here that highlights a patient and considered approach to the arrangements. The laconic melodies of the four vocalists duck and weave around each other, while the lyrics share stories of inner city share houses, fractured relationships and couch dreams.
 
'Gypsy Joker' sounds like The Pastels covering Burt Bacharach and 'House Music' could be an instrumental outtake from Starlight Walker-era Silver Jews. Album highlight, 'Left For Dead' combines Scullin’s elfin vocal stylings and eerie Manson family wails with a rhythm track that could have been stolen from Matador lo-fi pioneers, Fuck. 'Easy', on the other hand, recalls the blissed-out fantasies of Galaxie 500.
 
This is no doubt one of this year’s best local releases: an album that gets closer and more affecting with each spin, rewarding the listener with hidden secrets every step of the way.

Karl Smith