Rabbits Wedding – In Truth About Road

The good folks over at Chapter Music, the Australian enclave who’ve brought to light Dick Diver, Cool Sounds, Fabulous Diamonds, School Damage and more, have now dipped into the reissue circuit. Crafting the Anthology to their Mexican Summer, the new label has been dubbed Chapter Epiloque. The label seeks to shine a light on some deserving names from the Australian past and they’ve started out heavy with five releases that drift from Shoegaze to post-punk to indie pop. There’s a lot to love in the first batch, but unearthing the debut single and EP from Rabbits Wedding is the highlight of the bunch. The short, but tight release feels like it’s a precursor to quite a lot that lives in the margins of Chapter Music. A literate jangle-pop that’s living easy between the releases on the Strum n Thrum comp, Feelies, and The Bats, these early songs hit the listener fully formed.

The works here were originally the A/B side of their debut “Rideout” and a debut EP, In Truth About Road. Neither have seen any digital release, so this marks the widest accessibility yet. The songs lilt against Paul Watling’s nasal croon, landing with the same kind of college comforts as many of their UK / US contemporaries. Songs like “Four Kisses” are fleshed out with strings for a romanticism that pulls them through Felt Territory at times, while others tumble down plaintive pop eiderdowns with The Chills. The band followed these releases with another single and a swan song EP in 1989 before disbanding and dispersing towards other ‘90s outfits, though none of high note. The release sits nicely alongside the first batch from chapter, which includes the 1981 album from Perth shoegazers Wash, Cat’s Miaow-adjacent dreampop from Super Falling Star, and the gentle sway of The Northern Lights. All are out now and worth a dig.

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