dust at Phoenix Central Park

Formed against the backdrop of the pandemic in 2020, the project of Awabakal land / Newcastle-based dual guitarist-vocalists Gabriel Stove and Justin Teale, bassist Liam Smith, guitarist and saxophonist Adam Ridgway, and drummer Kye Cherry, dust offer an invigorating new take on Australian post-punk: progressive, catchy, and irresistible.

Just as artistically motivated by the fragmented, free-genre steps of Yung Lean and Burial, merging experimental jazz and electronica into a sound as immediate as Inhaler and Violent Soho, this idiosyncratic joining of the fringes comes together much like their roots in Newcastle, and the band’s careful balance of in-betweens.

Through their debut EP et cetera, etc dust set their sights on affirming their position in the local scene as vital and exciting. Born in the middle of periods of normalcy and uncertainty; not quite close enough to the major city scenes nor far enough isolated away; equally inspired by the groups making waves on both sides of the Pacific, dust take these keen observations to offer an invigorating take on Australian post-punk: progressive, catchy, and irresistible. In time, no doubt a contemporary answer to their hometown’s historic origins.

dust’s evolution continues on debut Sky Is Falling. Their sound, grounded in genre defiance and reinvention – shoegaze and electronic experimentalism side-by-side with elusive saxophone arrangements and abrasive guitar lines – is firmly rooted in melancholia and self-inquiry. Anarchic propulsion that denotes Geese to Double Virgo level extremities, with blissful nods to the classics, Sonic Youth, and My Bloody Valentine.

Their debut album, dust reveal, is a seminal moment. "On our first international tour, "the sky is falling" seemed to summarise the infinite and indefinite possibilities ahead. It was a phrase that kept surfacing between that formative moment on tour and the nihilistic lull after returning home to normal work and life. Accepting the unknown has made us more comfortable experimenting and taking risks in our songwriting.''

Sky Is Falling springboards contemporaries in Moin and untitled (halo) – their fusion, slightly softer and refined while still raw and spontaneous. Diverse in approach and wholly sub-genre agnostic, at once nostalgic and forward-leaning. Reflective of their restless engagement with the social zeitgeist, slouching towards the future that they uneasily attempt to define. Enter: Sky Is Falling, dust’s attempt at making sense of it all.

This performance by dust will premiere the band's new record in full for the first time ahead of its release the following day.

Tickets are free, available via ballot only.