The Bures Band

I’ve been no small champion of The Bures Band, one of the best Aussie exports over the last few years. The band’s first album came at the forefront of a wave of Australian Americana, a cadre that encompasses favorites like Hot Apple Band, Chet Sounds, Beefheart & McQuinn, and Quality Used Cars, among others. The Bures Band’s debut hit like an instant favorite, almost an extension of Stephen Bailey’s solo album that preceded it a year or so prior. Built around stacked harmonies and a love for the kind of collector’s fare of the Cosmic American variety (Sand, Mountain Bus, Fat, Taos, Country Funk), the band have quickly created a catalog of new classics. For their third, they push further, dig deeper into the well while exploring the edges of ‘album as artform.’ Ozonia is a state of mind, a destination that’s reached both by physical miles and mental openness.

The group has spent years building out their dynamic in the studio, a strength that’s bolstered by a packed roster of players. Ozonia finds them bringing a tendency to improv on stage into the studio; extending songs into heady breakdowns, resplendent choruses drenched in harmony, and a newfound injection of rhythm. The triple guitar tangle of Bailey, Anderson, and Miles remains at the core, winding leads around one another with a nimbleness that’s unmatched at home and equally impressive among the wider array of new Cosmic American travelers. The album has a nomadic yearn, a feeling of reaching for a promised land, an ethereal plane, a cosmic Nirvana. It’s as ambitious as the band’s ever been and the listener is instantly thrust into the album’s plush comforts, drenched in it’s afternoon sun. I’ve been a fan of the band since the first notes, but it’s great to see ‘em grow like this.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE (AUS), US pre-order coming 9/4.