Julian Teakle has a knack for constant re-invention. As the driving force behind Hobart bands The Frustrations and Bad Luck Charms, he effortlessly moved from abrasive punk guitar to sweet garage pop and now he is back as one half of The Native Cats.

At first, the music seems like a bit of a departure for Teakle. For starters he has swapped guitar for bass and deferred lyric-writing and vocal duties to his mate Peter Escott. Still, The Native Cats’ debut album is another logical mosaic piece in the career of a musician who is clearly in love with the history of post-punk and ’80s pop.

Built around vintage Casiotone drum machine rhythms, primitive electronica and juddering basslines, each song practically begs to be analysed and picked apart for its musical inspirations, which may or may not run the gamut from New Order, The Fall, Young Marble Giants, Fad Gadget, Sad Lovers And Giants and even Soft Cell, to unexpected sources like Happy Mondays and The Church.

Half the fun is that the band invite and relish such speculations, yet none of this distracts from The Native Cats’ great songwriting partnership. Teakle’s sparse bedroom pop backing provides the perfect setting for Escott’s kitchen sink narratives and downcast romanticism. The singing is a true revelation here, sitting somewhere between the flat, disaffected tones of Ian Curtis and the bittersweet wistfulness of Steve Kilbey.

This is pop music that ignores current trends, tries to please no one and is all the better for it. In many ways Always On is a companion piece to the baffling and unique album Delays by Mark Barrage. Both use ’80s pop references to create something unique and entirely of its time.

by René Schaefer