Relay TapesDebris
Indie

- Brodie J Brümmer, member in good standing of one of Australia’s better known shoegaze bands, Flyying Colours once described Relay Tapes as ‘intentionally flying under the radar’, when putting the outfit at the top of his list of other Aussie shoegazers to check out. This should maybe make you feel okay if you’ve never heard of them. Or maybe it shouldn’t, that’ll make sense as we get further in. When I say ‘they’, I mean Jade Tyers, who originally started roaring out distortion as far back as 2011. I always thought it was overcompensating duos that made the most noise -looking at you, Lightning Bolt- but man, Relay Tapes may be the first one-woman shoegazer I’ve come across and boy does she make some thunder.

So, keeping a low profile, there are seven whole years I don’t know about in the Relay Tapes bio, but Tyers turns up again with the Semblance EP, in 2018. It’s five tracks of solid ‘gazing, the wall of noise a bit less subtly inflected than later RT output, but, let’s face it, the genre is not exactly known for going quietly. Also, whatever else you might say it’s a work of serious overachievement, with Tyers writing, recording, mixing, mastering and making the cover art, which features a colourful pair of Ken Done-but-more-tasteful Macaws. Also, despite the fact that I was blissfully unaware of this record, it got a release on German label Dreams Never Ends, so that’s not really ‘flying under the radar’.

Two years later, 2020’s Early Morning Abstract EP dropped with another five nuggets of noise. This time Jade felt free to experiment harder. Opener, Theme 42, is ambient as much as it is shoegaze and sounds like a psychedelic orchestra tuning before the concert. There are more adventurous intros and outros and gaze’s little sibling, dream pop is more in evidence across the record, providing some haunting and beautiful contrasts to the maximum decibel moments. There’s even some vaguely indie-country-sounding Mazzy Starish stuff on Dream Colour, or is that just me? Early Morning Abstract also migrated to the home country of the sound, releasing in England on Shore Dive records; you can see Relay Tape’s British fans waxing lyrical about it on her Bandcamp page.

That brings us to the present and the brand new EP, Debris. Well, sort of, the circumstances of the last few years mean some of these songs have been floating around for a while. More confident than ever, the arty touches are brilliant, beginning with a delicious, scalic synth intro to Street Scene. The production is more confident than ever, the layering of the sound allows for the kind of stylistic variation that too often gets lost in the wash of shoegaze. Check out the mournful alt-rock of Fader for evidence - I can even make out some of Tyer’s lyrics! “You are just like me” she breathes. Well I don't know, I might play better guitar if that's really the case.

Comedown is, I belive, one of the singles from the record and it’s easy to hear why you would choose it. The most indie-pop song Relay Tapes has ever recorded, alternating between sugar sweet verses and firestorm choruses. I can actually make out quite a lot of this rather enchanting love song as Tyer sings: “To reach into a sky / Burning full and bright / She sees me from on high / Come down here / I’m here / Come down.

Debris’ title-track is another experiment in ambience. If it were just a little darker it’d probably be drone, but the harmonies are sweet, underneath the sepulchral echoes of the production. Love the cawing of the Meanjin / Brisbane crows in the background of the outro. The whole thing is a nicely contrasting transition to the closing number, another single, called Daylighter, a surprisingly propulsive piece which shows off more of Tyer’s agility on the frets than I can recall elsewhere. Chiming xylophone pierces the giant guitar of the chorus and plays across the cute-as-a-button outro.

As much as the work you hear is Jade Tyer’s in its entirety, she has been enlisting the help of like-minded individuals (from, for instance, Ultra Material, Pynes and Ancient Channels) to perform it live, since as far back as 2018, sharing stages with a lot of Meanjin / Brisbane’s best bands. Maybe if I went out to gigs more often I wouldn’t be in the embarrassing position of having to admit that this is the first time I’ve really engaged with Relay Tapes. Still, I’m so glad I have. I have no information about whether Debris is getting another overseas release, but golly it should. It’s the best work yet by Relay Tapes and I think I’ve mentioned she was never a slouch. Debris? Hardly.

- Chris Cobcroft.

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