When a guy and girl do minimalist drone in Australia, they’re bound to be measured against Fabulous Diamonds. Erasers do nothing to counter this, rather settling into their own warm niche without fuss. This bedroom-recorded EP is a compact introduction to the Perth band, who have been attracting attention online since forming last year. It’s the work of founder/instrumentalist Rupert Thomas and vocalist Rebecca Orchard, an artist Thomas recruited despite her lack of singing experience. Orchard is also responsible for the stain-like sleeve art for Autumn.

These are four songs that exist within a limited array of sounds: guitar, synthesiser, piecemeal drums, loops, and what sounds like melodica. Orchard’s blanched, deadpan singing is approached like another instrumental texture; her lyrics are seemingly incidental and her voice is almost a drone of its own. That said, she brings a slow-burning art-pop feel to opener ‘Two Of A Kind’, in which she chants, “There’s a fine line between the ground and sky.” Her presence is drier on ‘Safe/Sound’, an eerie concoction built on phantom buzzes and a tasteful slightness to the drumming.

On the flip, ‘Window’ loops two hypnotic tangles of guitar before adding stuttered drums and another continuous buzz. The vocals are mixed low and hazy, and Orchard’s voice falters as she tries to drag it out, but the song’s primitive cool doesn’t suffer. A chilly guitar passage guides along ‘Autumn Trees’. Complete with itchy percussion and half-spoken vocals, it’s got some post-punk and Krautrock in it, only slowed down and picked nearly clean.

There’s an overlap to these four songs that makes sense given the project’s newness and tight focus. For live shows the band adds drummer Andrew Sinclair, who plays with Thomas in the more established Perth band Shock! Horror!, making him no stranger to repetitious and minimal post-punk.

While Erasers don’t command the same depth of mystery and vigour as Fabulous Diamonds – at least not yet – their EP is more than some fleeting bit of opaqueness. It’s textural, heavy-lidded drone-pop executed extremely well, meriting closer inspection with each minor shuffling of its hand.

by Doug Wallen