Words by Mark Griffin.

Listening to Teenage Dads latest EP, Midnight Driving, you cannot help but be struck by a sense of sonic clarity. Yeah, things have changed since we first met the boys on 2018’s, Wett Weather—the production is slicker, the song writing is more confident, there are more synths now—but this is a band that arrived fully formed on day one. No one listening to Midnight Driving will doubt that this is the same band that put out Wett Weather. Those 80s post-punk influences jammed with early-‘10s late garage revival and a bit of the psychedelic— which has been a hallmark of the Australian indie-scene since Tame Impala arrived—are all present and accounted for. That’s not to say there isn’t much that’s new to love on this EP, but there’s something loveable about a band that has known unashamedly who it is from day one. 

The EP kicks off with the title track, a spacey mid-tempo groove whose prominent synths are the most obvious ‘80s reference on the EP. From there, the band kick it up gear, with back-to-back energetic thumpers, Hey, Diego! and, Teddy, which sees the boys revelling in up-tempo fun, a la The Jungle Giants or for those old enough, Mental As Anything.

Starting with 3am, the pace drops a little and the song writing becomes more serious. 3am is an earnest love-song with some fantastic vocals from Jordan Finlay. It plays as a much more confident version of a few of the tracks from the Dads debut, with stronger production and songwriting and a more mature vocal performance to match.

 Exit Sign brings the tempo up a notch but keeps the strong vocals and deeper lyricism. Finally, Goodbye Goodbye Again is probably the most delicate song we’ve had from the boys yet. It features prominent acoustic guitars and vocal melodies over a heartbreaking refrain about saying… well… goodbye. This track is probably the steepest change in direction for the band. Not a move away from what brought them to this point, but perhaps a sign of more mature offerings to come.

Midnight Driving is as fun and energetic as anything Teenage Dads have put out to date, but also has surprising depth. It feels like it may well come to be seen as an inflection point. I said at the start that Teenage Dads have had a sense of sonic clarity from their 2018 debut through to this EP, and they certainly have, but on Midnight Driving there are also signs of new directions. I don’t think we’ll see a total reinvention, this is still a band that very confidently knows who they are and how they sound and has remained true to how they started; but there’s a sense that within that they can try new things. Midnight Driving is still very much the Teenage Dads we know and love, but where Wett Weather was young and raw and brimming with the excitement of a band about to breakthrough, Midnight Driving has the relaxed confidence of band that has found their stride and is enjoying the ride.

Midnight Driving by Teenage Dads is out now.