(Emergency/MGM)

Totally not going to say grunge.

We Don’t Belong Here is the debut album from Mansfield’s least favourite sons – Violent Soho. The social misfits – from Brisbane’s most Christian of suburbs – play rock & roll with its influence drawn from deep within the ‘90s. Grinding guitars slide up and down power chords, while cymbal-favouring drums create room for belligerent, teen angst vocals. Yet as slick as the production by Dean Dirt is, it’s the cleverly competent songwriting that really makes the record so appealing. The four-piece have managed to craft a pointedly concise pop record, replete with ear-grabbing hooks and structures that get to the point early and don’t hang around long enough to be tiresome. There’s little in the way of musical exploration or experimentalism, with Birth Of The Teen-Age being the only track to really embrace tension through repetition, but the record never feels vacuous. It’s juvenile to be sure, but not inappropriately so, and singing through the choruses of My Generation and Jesus Stole My Girlfriend would be pretty lame without it. It’s a great local release in any case, and essential for anyone who dug alternative rock in the early ‘90s, or just likes a good band.

JAKEB SMITH

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