You don’t expect a band called The Great Emu War Casualties to do the obvious. And so, the acclaimed Australian alt-rock band today release their new EP ‘Mal du Siecle’ – French for “sickness of the century”, a 19th century term of universal ennui that feels uncomfortably apt in 2026 – alongside arguably their most joyous ever track, ‘Groovy’. Listen HERE.
Getting ‘Groovy’, the band play with an amphetamine rush: driving, open-road motorik rhythms accompanied by an earworm synth motive, while Saskia Clapton’s cool, feminine backing vocals intertwine around Joe Jackson’s laconic lead. His lyrics typically play between self-deprecation and surreal observations on suburban life, and ‘Groovy’ tells a typically unorthodox tale. As his opening words state, “For the seventeenth time today I declare my days of being a dick are over… but I forgot about groovy.”
Also featuring the recent single ‘Cold Food Ave’, the ‘Mal du Siecle’ EP is completed by three other new songs. Opener ‘Genie’ is intriguingly tricky-to-define: dance-punk grooviness with an undercurrent of psychedelia and battering march provided by Nepalesedrummer Bibek Tamang. ‘PFA’ brings a Balearic alt-indie vibe, its otherwise meandering mellowness fast-tracked by more crushing beats. And the concluding ‘Disco’ is irresistible, as the Casualties bring their own personality to a track that lives up to previous comparisons to Two Door Cinema Club, LCD Soundsystem and Foals.
The Great Emu War Casualties embarked upon a trip of a lifetime to record ‘Mal du Siecle’. They left their home city of Melbourneand travelled halfway around to a studio in the borders between Joshua Tree and the Yucca Valley, overlooking the Mojave Desert. Their producer shared a similarly unpredictable streak: American-based Englishman Alex Newport, a former noise-rock/metal musician now renowned as a Grammy-nominated collaborator for Bloc Party and At The Drive In.
Comments are closed.