Given that their line-up consists mostly of current and former members of Perth legends Adam Said Galore, it's no surprise that Mukaizake excel at impassioned indie rock with a decidedly '90s bent. Trailing their lauded debut Mapping the Static by six interminable years, Unknown Knowns seems blissfully unaware of the anticipation that surrounds it; Mukaizake sound like a band that don't feel they have anything to prove, whose humble goal is nothing more than to write and record the best possible songs they can, expectations be damned.

Unknown Knowns more than lives up to the promise of its predecessor. These six songs are everything the band's patient fans could have asked for, as well as being strong enough to introduce Mukaizake to a whole new audience. They do have a tendency to wear their influences on their sleeves, but when those influences seem to be the likes of Built to Spill (‘Rule Norse’) and Sunny Day Real Estate (‘Frisbee’), that's not such a bad thing. At least they seem infinitely less disingenuous than the current crop of by-numbers garage rock clogging up the pipelines.

The release of Unknown Knowns coincides with Mukaizake's rebirth as an active band, which will hopefully rectify the one fault to be noted of the disc: that at a mere six songs, it's teasingly brief, leaving anticipation levels for a follow-up very high indeed.

by Adam D Mills