Since forming in Sydney in 1980, storied Australian psych-rockers The Church have released a whopping 27 albums with never more than a few years between full-length efforts. In fact, after an uncharacteristically long six-year span between 2017’s Man Woman Life Death Infinity and last year’s The Hypnogogue, the band quickly made up for the brief absence by releasing a follow-up and companion piece to that LP last Friday with the rock-operatic Eros Zeta & the Perfumed Guitars, which opens with the entrancing “Realm of Minor Angels.”
“From the moment Jeffrey Cain started playing the opening riff, I was hooked,” shares founding member Steve Kilbey, who notes that it’s one of his favorite singles the project’s ever released in their 34 years together. “The singing and lyrics are my own subtle homage to the torch songs of the ’60s, and check out Ian Haug’s mandolin lines and Ashley Naylor’s slide work!”
For their “Neighborhoods” performance of the track, the mandolin is accounted for as the track is performed by a six-piece band set up in a shelter space overlooking an area of greenery in Brisbane. Check out the brief set below, and see the band perform it live when they hit the road with Afghan Whigs this summer at the dates listed on their website.
