Summer is undeniably present in ‘Sushi’, the debut single from Otouto, though it’s less feel-good pop anthem, more wistful abstraction. Its emotional stirrings aren’t the standard sort: a fine layer of perspiration from a summer day spent indoors, Moleskine notebooks, wooden flooring and politely flaking white wall paint. December to February spent mostly alone, avoiding Christmas, forgetting New Year’s Eve. Sweet old hot weather solitude.

The disarming thing about this solitary mood is that almost all the vocals are doubled or harmonised by some combination of lead vocalist Hazel Brown and sister Martha, whose voices swoon, coo and tilt with magical ease. Lyrically, ‘Sushi’ revolves around two very brief misperceptions, a pair of whimsical mistaken observations – more flash fiction than ballad. It’s good that they’re such simple utterances, because the real interest lies in the Melbourne trio’s arrangements. In particular, the slippery noodling of baritone guitar (at times stiffening into an Afro-staccato’d riff) is a dissonant standout, sliding around plainly played piano chords and the tin pan drumming of Kishore Ryan (Kid Sam, Seagull). Despite the song’s clean, articulate pop veneer, it’s one of the stranger indie tunes you’ll hear on your radio this season.

‘Sushi’ is augmented by two b-sides, ‘Spot’ and ‘Walkie Talkie’. The former is a sparse number based around a chirping Farfisa and sampled vocal treatments. It’s taut, even distraught, as Brown pleads to her estranged lover: “Where are you going to sleep?” It’s a composition that ably demonstrates the difference between spare and spacious, its melody sitting in the gaps between Ryan’s grid-like drum pattern. Dedicated to the sting of memory, ‘Spot’ falters in its closing crescendo, which carries too light a touch.

Finally, ‘Walkie Talkie’ is a slow and plaintive song with a lumbering pace, all lackadaisical delivery and low strings strummed. For such a simple, funereal piece, it vies with ‘Sushi’ for best-in-show.

This release is – as its title track describes – less straightforward than it may seem. Like an extremely minimal take on Battles, and with a hint of Catpower’s huskiness, the group’s forthcoming album is a curious prospect worthy of anticipation.

by Babette Gladney