Lower Plenty

Emerging from Melbourne's active indie community, Lower Plenty coalesced as an informal supergroup whose members had previously played in Dick Diver, Deaf Wish, Total Control, UV Race, and the Focus. Seeking a marked contrast to the intensity of those bands, Daniel Twomey, Jensen Tjhung, Sarah Heyward, and Al Montfort favored acoustic guitars and unconventional percussion to shape their relaxed suburban indie folk sound. Their first recording, the cassette-only Mean, surfaced in 2010 and slowly built recognition inside Melbourne's independent circles and farther afield. Committed to an unscripted lo-fi approach, the quartet captured their next album in one pass on a reel-to-reel machine at Tjhung's house. Issued in 2012 on the Melbourne independent imprint Special Award Records, Hard Rubbish earned strong notices and appeared on numerous year-end critic lists. The band's third album, Life/Thrills, followed in 2014 with wider distribution that extended their reach overseas. Although each member remained occupied with separate projects, the four musicians reconvened to track their fourth album inside a suburban kitchen. Released late in 2016 through a collaboration between Bedroom Suck and the Omnian Music Group, the characteristically understated and personal Sister Sister completed the set.