Stumps - All Our Friends album review
"All Our Friends is a retro-tinged indie-rock epic with equal parts heart and spirit, and plenty of both to share."
STUMPS
All Our Friends
COOKING VINYL
Driven by slick and summery, ultra‑jangly guitar leads, shimmery synths and soulful vocal hooks that belt far beyond the foreground, Stumps have rung a dismal year out with a well‑earned dose of over-the-top ebullience.
Even in its most reflective points (like the aptly gloomy “2020”), the Sydney trio make it hard not to have toes tapping or shoulders swaying – and when they kick into full force on power-pop epics like “I’ve Had Enough” and “Daffodils”, dancing in your seat like a total maniac is absolutely mandatory.
Of course, we’d be remiss not to note how candidly earnest the record is beneath its bouncy, bombastic veneer – All Our Friends is a retro-tinged indie-rock epic with equal parts heart and spirit, and plenty of both to share.
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Ellie Robinson is an Australian writer, editor and dog enthusiast with a keen ear for pop-rock and a keen tongue for actual Pop Rocks. Her bylines include music rag staples like NME, BLUNT, Mixdown and, of course, Australian Guitar (where she also serves as Editor-at-Large), but also less expected fare like TV Soap and Snowboarding Australia. Her go-to guitar is a Fender Player Tele, which, controversially, she only picked up after she'd joined the team at Australian Guitar. Before then, Ellie was a keyboardist – thankfully, the AG crew helped her see the light…