Double Single Review: THE REDUCTORS ‘Practical Girl/Tremors’
Practical Girl and Tremors is the new double single release from Perth Indie Rock group, The Reductors. Due for release tomorrow, AMNPLIFY was given exclusive access to the singles this week and I can tell you right now, these are two banging tracks with a lot to say.
The Perth Band began back in 2010 and has since come to be a creative quartet consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Luke Nixon, guitarist Aidan Gordan, bassist Gareth Bevan and drummer Erin Gordon. The group released their debut album Caboose in 2017, officially stamping their name in the WA Indie music scene and only solidifying themselves further through live shows and radio play.
Working on this project with producer Rob Grant (Death Cab for Cutie, Tame Impala and Queens of the Stone Age) and drawing from musical influences such as The Kinks and The Smiths, both tracks are full of pure rock energy with a tinge of retro, a real Aussie sound and hard-hitting melodies that accompany the smooth vocals and crafted lyrics of frontman Luke Nixon. To put it simply, The Reductors’ sound is purely unique.
The Reductors’ sound has evolved since the release of Caboose, consciously approaching their style with a more stripped back and straight to the point experience in mind. Frontman Luke Nixon recently said the band “made a conscious decision to make our sound more raw than it has previously been… Caboose was heavily structured… The creation of Caboose was a necessary step in the subsequent dismantling of its artistic premise and we had needed to learn the rules of making it in order to unlearn them…” Ultimately, Practical Girl/Tremors is a stripped back but highly mature, edgy, straight in your face dose of reality. Both songs highlight quite a few issues with our current society both on an individual and grand scale.
Practical Girl is a three minute boldly upbeat track all about the pressures society has to conform, and how this pressure of conformity ends up resulting in an identity battle. The track tells a story of a woman who dreams of a different life; guilty dreaming of what could be while placing her current one all in the hands of society’s pressure to conform and the expectations placed upon her. Nixon says, “Practical Girl is a reflection of the contradictory state most of us are in as we try our best to lead fulfilling lives while being governed by expectation and obligation…” Musically, the song brings together a real indie retro rock feel with an electric guitar led melody and pounding backline which will have you tapping your fingers and humming the beat for days on end.
“Practical girl is caught in a quandary, managing mayhem in multiple worlds. Someone invented quantum mechanics, now there are millions of practical girls… She drinks and stays out late, her bed is left unmade. She’s battling with her weight, so sinful to be caught having unproductive thought…”
Tremors is a four minute toned down rock track with hard hitting lyrics and a wicked guitar solo to boot! Similar to Practical Girl, Tremors is a real psychosomatic track full of emotionally haunting thoughts. The track truly delves into the internal dialogue we have about the consequences of our life choices; from loss to regret, remorse to the pain resulting from past choices.
“I did some time in lovelock, the guard house was deserted. I slipped out through the courtyard, the crisis was adverted. The tremors flow through me, the cold crept into me. I was so low, I was cut down by that terrible blow… My sleepless sorrow lingers, my restless mind still wonders…”
I am about 99% sure Practical Girl/Tremors would speak to many individuals in one way or another, and too would be a reality check on some level. I think as people, we spend far too much time thinking about the what if, what could be and the why, rather than living in the moment without regret and constant interrogation and persecution of oneself due to our actions… But I am not here to give you a psych lecture. Practical Girl and Tremors are an Indie lover’s dream with the right amount of rock, sprinkled with some real thought provoking lyrics and a heaped dollop of musical flair. The Reductors are going places (and hopefully it’s more widespread than just Western Australia!)
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