People often scramble for comparisons when they hear something completely new. So it is with Wayward Ways, the new release from Sydney/Melbourne (via New Zealand, for the complete antipodean credentials) outfit The Pet Rocks. You can hear a breadth of influences – Wilco, Pavement, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, even the best of early Oasis in the swaggering strides and tambourine hustle of 'The Scots' – but what the Pet Rocks sound like really, is none of these things. Rather, they're that rare and elusive musical jewel: they sound like nobody else.

The production on this album is both lush and at times low-fi, while remaining refreshingly free of contrivance. It allows the instrumentation to breath beneath the vocal ebbs and flows, with keys adding lovely melodic counterpoints to two interweaving guitars and ear-catching bass hooks. It's rounded out by drums not short on thrilling flourishes. This bed of sound makes way for the almost ghostly, sometimes spoken vocals to whisper their way into your ear, where they stay long after the album is over.

While single 'Easy Tiger' received good and deserving local radio play, the standout track is the glorious, gorgeous pop of the cheekily named 'Malt Disney': “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference where you are/ Do we agree to disagree, if we don't fight then we'll never be free.” That chorus is tailor-made for singing en masse in as large a venue as possible.

Living in a world (as we unfortunately are) of Chris Martin sing-song faux sentimentality, there's much to love about the clever and thoughtful wordsmithery of frontman/lyricist Nick Kreisler. His smart and playful turns of phrase can be appreciated just as well when reading the liner notes as when hearing them perfectly married to a naggingly catchy hook. See the fuzzed-up frenzy of 'Chinatown', where we're "listening to the sounds of doom”.

It's a difficult proposition to pull off an emotional landscape that stretches from exquisite heartbreak (the indescribably beautiful, country-tinged title track) to balls-out, celebratory rock ('Dirty Jeans') while stopping off at lounge-y pop ('Slow Train'). But The Pet Rocks succeed winningly with a record that, taken altogether, is a like a journey through a particularly booze-sodden weekend – from run-ins with shadows from your past to a bruising, but satisfying comedown (the aptly named closer 'The Underworld').

A world-class and potentially world-beating record, Wayward Ways could have come out of anywhere – London, New York, Sweden – but luckily for us it comes from right here, allowing for the chance to see this band live when next they're passing through your town.

Highly recommended.

by Elmo Keep