Sydney locals, Body Type are an all-female indie-rock group who are steadily building a reputation as one of the country’s must see acts. Their combination of indie production, punk aesthetics and a bright pop sound made their self-titled debut EP, one of 2018’s best indie releases. Ahead of their second EP, scheduled for May 3, the four-piece band have released ‘Free To Air’, living up to their own incredible standard. Whereas the first single, ‘Stingray’, was upbeat, loud and punchy, ‘Free To Air’ is softer and more refined, revealing a song-writing depth that was only previously hinted at.

The opening guitar and vocals are distant, immediately grounding the track in the band’s distinct indie style. When the rest of the rock instrumentation does come in, it maintains this indie resonance. With some effective use of reverb and clean EQ work, the grit and crunchiness of the raw drums and guitar is replaced with melodic brightness and clarity. This is subsequently complemented by the vocals. When both lead and the harmonising backups calmly swirl together, it creates a relaxed and easy to listen to timbre. It’s reminiscent of the soft rock production quality of bands such as The Stone Roses, Cranberries and Smiths.

The effectiveness of this tone is borne out by the lyrics. The writing wraps the music in a nostalgic sound, lending into the narrative of the track. The song romanticises the age of TV before streaming and how that acts as an allegory of life in this time. Lines like “we don’t have to choose, living is easy, we don’t have to care,” refer to the ease of sitting in front of a TV and relaxing. However, the “old-world free-to-air” analogy extends to the ease of these simpler times. Today everything, not just TV, is on demand and with that comes extra pressures and complexity. It is odd to hear a piece of creative art referring to something so recent as the simpler times, but it is extremely representative to the nostalgia driven sentimentality of millennials.

In ‘Free To Air’, Body Type combine an older rock sound with newer indie conventions to establish a strong, emotive and nostalgic tone for a distinctly modern narrative. If this doesn’t get you excited for May 3 and the launch of their second EP, the stylistically low-budget and incredibly quirky music video surely will.