Armen Firman - In the Water (Single)

Melbourne 5-piece Armen Firman continue to build on their reputation with second single In the Water. A straight-ahead stab of power-pop it is catchy enough to stay in my head for the entire day (slightly annoying in the end but undoubtedly impressive). Apparently a top proposition live, I like their style a lot. It is great to hear some up-beat, hopeful music, in the vein of an aussie Supergrass.

This band has copped a fair bit of flak for being cliché. Sure, they are a Melbourne 5-piece, and sound like about 600 other bands, but fair suck of the second single! At least they sound like 600 good bands and not like Matchbox 20 or the Little River Band. I mean, seriously, do people get stuck into Little Red because they are too derivative or just because they want to be contrarian?. Well I am starting a movement of anti-contrarianism. It is now officially cooler to like ‘hip’ Triple J bands, because not liking them for cheap journo cred is very 2007. So, I hereby announce my love for Armen Firman. Boys, stick to the formula. It’s a good formula.

What’s more my fellow anti-contrarianites, next time you hear a didactic prat go, “(*yawn*) that guitar solo is sooooo Jimi Hendrix circa Axis: Bold as Love”, you can say, well “Jimi Hendrix happened to be one of the greatest axemen since the invention of the plagal cadence, and purely by chance he didn’t manage to record every possible guitar solo. So give the kids a chance!”

So Armen Firman’s In The Water- hear it now on Triple J. Recommended.

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