W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

05. Again – Belair Lip Bombs (Third Man Records)

he Belair Lip Bombs have been kicking around the Australian indie music scene since roughly 2018 when they released their first LP, the eponymous Belair Lip Bombs.  But it’s taken some 7 years and their 2nd full length release (they do also have 2 EPs to their credit), Again, to gain any kind of traction here in the States.  After getting some significant buzz at SXSW in 2024, the band signed with Jack White’s Third Man Records for Again and the band appears primed to take off.  The first song off the album which really hit me hard was the hard rocking, “Another World” with its thumping bass line throughout and its rolling guitar riffs as a back drop, lead vocalist, Maisie Everett comes off like an early version of Alicia Bognanno of Bully.  The sound and styles throughout Again varies from genre to genre.  There’s the poppier indie sound of “Cinema” which kind of reminds me of Diet Cig (damn, whatever happened to them?).  You’ve got the hard driving rocker, “Hey You” and the slowed down piano ballad “Burning Up”.  And of course throughout the various guises which the Lip Bombs elicit on Again, there is an ever present crunchy jangle which if you don’t know by now is right up this listener’s alley.