In this new Rolling Stone AU/NZ series, we get to know the music tastes of artists through their favourite records. Next up, Naarm/Melbourne wonky indie-pop band Eggy.
“I’m an absolute sucker for a weird record that someone made just for the fun of it,” says Eggy member Sam Lyons, which is a sentence that could sum up his own band’s approach to music.
As Eggy, Lyons and his bandmates Charlie Wolstenholme, Dom Moore, Lucy Packham, and Zoe Monk make left-field pop that recalls weird and wonderful musical antecedents like Syd Barrett and Cate Le Bon. The stranger a song is, the better; the wonkier a rhythm is, the better.
Eggy released their third album, From Time to Time, earlier this year through Flightless Records, their second full-length release with the label.
2020’s Bravo!, with its myriad pop culture references and playful absurdity, was one of that year’s most underrated records, 2022’s With Gusto was awarded 3RRR’s Album of the Week in 2022, but From Time to Time is comfortably Eggy’s best record to date.
From the opening moments of “Lights, Camera”, which could be a Caroline cut, filled with the sound of musicians and their instruments warming up for what’s to come, everything is more expansive and more cinematic; From Time to Time often comes across as the soundtrack to a meandering indie film.
The album finds the five-piece evolving their sound in fascinating ways, prioritising experimentation in order to avoid complacency. “We wanted to make an album that challenged us to grow, and to be outside our comfort zone,” as Moore says.
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Eggy’s latest is a little less in-your-face with its weirdness than Bravo! or With Gusto, and it sounds a lot more sincere and melancholic, which is definitely not a bad development when you’re creating tracks as colossal and beautiful as “Are You Not Entertained?” and “Open Field”.
Analogue and digital sounds blur together on the record, vintage drum machines doing battle with swooning cello and violin. There are flashes of influences such as Stereolab, John Cale, and Broadcast; there are psych-rock songs and prog breakdowns and ’00s-esque indie. From Time to Time packs a lot of concepts and creativity into its 42 minutes.
Like Wurld Series in New Zealand or Nightshift in Scotland, Eggy’s devotion to being as courageous artistically, and as decidedly uncommercial, as possible is something that should be celebrated.
Following the release of their album, Eggy dropped by Licorice Pie Records in their hometown to take part in Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s On the Record series, where artists take us through some of their favourite albums.
Their chosen records were unsurprisingly weird and left-field, reflecting their own sound.
Check out Eggy’s picks below!
Eggy are embarking on a short but sweet tour with Cool Sounds this weekend, playing Brisbane tonight (August 22nd) and Sydney tomorrow. They’re also set to support Way Dynamic’s album launch show in Melbourne on September 5th.
Eggy’s From Time to Time is out now via Flightless Records.
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On the Record with Eggy
The Dukes of the Stratosphere – 25 O’Clock (Sam Lyons pick)
A beautifully freaky, poppy ’60s-style psych record made in the ’80s. The Dukes of the Stratosphere is the fake name of the real band XTC. They put out this record on April Fools day through Virgin under the fake name, and didn’t reveal who it was for a fair while. Cheeky. It feels like a love letter to Syd Barrett, channelling a lot of those early psych pop artists, and a bit of the Canterbury scene.
The best part is, besides the great story, you can hear that they were having fun making this. I’m an absolute sucker for a weird record that someone made just for the fun of it. This is such a good example of that. If you check out one track, listen to “Moles From the Ministry”.
Giles, Giles and Fripp – The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp (Sam Lyons pick)
This is Peter Giles, Michael Giles, and Robert Fripp’s project before they ditched Peter, renamed themselves King Crimson, and went further down the prog rabbit hole. It’s a weird combo of psych-pop, baroque elements, and spoken word skits. Super eccentric.
I think when I joined Eggy a few years ago I was listening to a lot of stuff in this world, so it definitely influenced a lot of my guitar playing, especially on those last two records. In the world of fun, weird records with spoken word story parts, I’d like to give an honourable mention to The Point! by Harry Nilsson too… scratches that same itch.
School Damage – School Damage (Lucy Packham pick)
This album is the queen of catchy (and wobbly) synth lines paired with minimal poetic melodies. It was released in 2017 when Eggy were playing gigs at house parties with no singer, dressed in Halloween costumes. It was inspiring for me at a time where we were trying to find our sound. School Damage are an iconic Melbourne band and this album demonstrates a familiar yet new sound all at once.
Broadcast – The Noise Made By People (Lucy Packham pick)
Phew – Phew (Zoe Monk pick)
So many cool natural and textural sounds on this record. It’s a bit krauty, a bit psych-folky, and lots of outsider experimentation. It was produced by Conny Plank and the backing band was made up by the members of CAN, so has a fair lot of continuity with the more B-side sounds of CAN, Neu!, and other kraut bands of the ’70s produced by Conny. Though still with that very distinctive Japanese flair to all those elements. The best!
Klaus Schulze – Body Love (Zoe Monk pick)
Started listening to Klaus Schulze a couple of years back, and was instantly obsessed. I would’ve selected any of his records to chat about, ’cause they can all be spoken about in the same way.
What I love about his records is that every time you hear it you can have a different listening experience. You can really go wherever you want with it. Sometimes you hear synth lines, and sometimes you hear the space between the synth lines. Every time a new time, which is a good time.
