Bridezilla Arrive in Style With Their Self-Titled Debut EP

1 May 2008 by Max Easton

Bridezilla are a name on people’s lips. “Yeah, I know the name, but...” No more buts. With hallmark track ‘Brown Paper Bag’ floating around on FBI and JJJ, they’re no longer a stranger to the ears of Australian listeners and after the release of their self-titled debut EP, you should make it your prerogative to get familiar with them.

With lead singer Holiday and Saxophonist Milly going through the motions of the HSC as you read this, it’s hard to believe that the mature sound found within could be created so early on in their lives. It’s an exciting prospect, because this album is grown up and fresh. It dabbles in the real sounds of indie, before indie meant combing your fringe over and raping 80’s disco. They channel the ethereal atmospheric noise that Sonic Youth bashed around in the 90’s with an aftertaste of the Smashing Pumpkins circa ‘Siamese Dream,’ all moulded around the centrepiece of screeching violin and screaming saxophone. It’s moody, haunting and gothic, fresh but somehow familiar, and despite having this taste of the dark alternative, it’s uniquely beautiful.

Vocalist/Guitarist Holiday Sidewinder pouts and moans through rolling wall-of-sound landscapes, with the distinct form and clarity of Millie Hall’s saxophone and Daisy Tulley’s Violin preventing it from spiralling so far out of control that it ceases to exist. It’s that dichotomy between disorder and formation that makes this EP what it is; it’s a sign of things to come from one of the most exciting things on the Sydney indie scene, it’s new, refreshing and reminiscent of music lost during the evolution of indie towards the electronic.

Tracks like ‘Saint Francine’ and ‘Brown Paper Bag’ show off their prowess in the upbeat, in the case of the former sitting behind spiralling violin solo’s and the clash and thump of violent percussion and distorted guitar, the latter showcasing their marketability with addictive riffs and a catchy chorus. Then there’s the other side of Bridezilla, that aforementioned gothic haunt seen on album closers ‘Mister Young’ and ‘Forbidden Holiday,’ strip it down and you have that taste of the classical that’s omnipresent through the entirety of the EP, simple orchestral beauty. It mightn’t be original to meld the classical with the alternative, but it’s a great example of what can be done with the right sense of arrangement.

‘Bridezilla’ is five tracks of potential, it showcases the band’s ability while lighting up those receptors in your nervous system that scream ‘next big thing.’ Check this album out, check this band out, do what you can to get a taste of Bridezilla, because if you do, you’ll be sitting around at a sold out Enmore one day saying ‘yeah, I knew these guys since they were 16 years old.’ The album is fresh enough on its own, but with the knowledge of their age and the path that lies ahead of them, it’s doubly exciting...because they’re going places, and as long as I have two functional ears, I’ll be listening along with them, following the yellow brick road.

Album Reviews

Kimbra - Vows

Ben Salter - The Cat

Seasick Steve - You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

Timber Timbre - Creep On Creepin On

More Reviews