“I've had a couple of people being like, that's the worst name I've ever heard.”
But when the music’s that good, who really cares? fbi’s newest Independent Artist of the Week, Melbourne band Dumbhead caught up with Ify on the back of a new single, ‘want light!’ The track’s post-punky-guitars-over-a-trip-hop-beat references a storied legion of ethereal Melbourne music, from HTRK to Acopia.
But there’s a unique, alluringly uncertain edge to the track, and Dumbheads music in general. On ‘want light!’ a horror-music-esque vibrato hovers silently before revealing itself slightly towards the end of the song. A steadily pulsing synth drives the track forward, sounding like an alarm from a car door left ominously open.
Dumbhead’s releases over recent years have explored similarly uncertain, yet sonically flexible vibes. On 2024 single ‘Problem Dog,’ a skeletal loop unspools into a splattering of dubby, scattered drums and swirling, hard-to-grasp vocals. Even earlier material like song ‘Rabbit in Paris,’ is a stripped-back take on new-wavey dance punk, and 2023 EP Stop Motion 2023 incorporates downtempo and after-hours dance music as a base for evocative mood explorations; songs that slowly unfold, drawing you into their orbit.
It’s a band with a name that is cheekily deceptive – this is deftly and thoughtfully constructed music. Not that it really matters at the end of the day.
“I just thought like, I'll just put that there and the music can speak for itself.”
Words by Lindsay Riley