The elevator pitch for Sydney’s Body Type may be quick—a Dolewave group reflecting Courtney Barnett’s lyrical ability to balance the profound against the mundane, and featuring the assistance of Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa on production duties and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s label backing—yet the sounds they produce on their third album Tally are far more complex. There’s a post-punk cheekiness to these songs as well as a power-pop sweetness, even if their aesthetic is more sonically aligned with the Australian national pastime of jangle-pop or even indie rock’s accessibility.
There are surely several factors at play that led to Tally being such a pivotal release in the young band’s discography, and Mozgawa’s influence in the studio is only one of them (“Our first ever song to feature a Mellotron,” the band reflected when introducing the pre-album single “Sick Bag,” “a true Stella moment”). With the playlist all four band members helped compile to map out some of their biggest influences for the record (including a Warpaint track, of course), it’s clear that their allegiance to Sheryl Crow and Karen Dalton is just as strong as their reverence for Cleaners From Venus and The Hummingbirds, situating Body Type in a unique space between revivalists of the Paisley Underground and various eras of pop-country.
With Tally out this Friday via p(doom), find the band’s influences playlist below along with their writeups for each track. You can also pre-order the record here.
SOPHIE MCCOMISH
Joni Mitchell, “Case of You”
An obvious choice, really. All the starry lights of California got in my eyes and Joni got stuck there like a phosphene. To move a listener with music and lyrics like the maestra does here would be a dream.
Cleaners From Venus, “I Can’t Stop (Holding On)”
When we first showed Stella our demos and were spitballing together about our desired sonic direction of the album, she immediately listed off a bunch of our favourite bands/eternal references—and that’s how we knew we were destined to be together forever. This band was one of them, and this is one of my faves of theirs.
Girls, “Lust for Life”
Annabel and I come back to this song a lot. Lyrics so sweet and simple, yet so dark. Love Christopher Owen’s delivery and all those lil’ background doo-wops. This one was a reference for “Gorgeous.”
CECIL COLEMAN
PJ Harvey, “One Line”
The push/pull nature of this song gets me—how the guitars drop in and out on this one chord progression, the drums are just bashing away on this relentless beat, and the vocals romantically swirling above. Drawing a line between two lovers while the song is non-linear, whoa. It’s a reminder that songs can be in whatever the hell format you want them to be.
The Hummingbirds, “Alimony”
I love how this song starts, with the jangly guitar hooks and the 16’s in the drums moving all around the kit eventually dropping into this indie-pop bop. It inspired me to think of drums as part of the hook, moving in partnership with the guitars to elevate important moments in a song (and now heard in “Planet 8,” “Gorgeous,” and “Do You Want to Cry Your Eyes Out?”).
Warpaint, “Love Is to Die”
The whole vibe of this song is hypnotic: the drums and bass driving at the core, the subtle guitars and those damn lyrical contradictions/resolutions are a hit in the chest. It was both a playing style and tonal reference for me for “Eye Is a Mouth Is a Face,” so it was incredibly cool yet surreal working on this with the master herself, Stella Mozgawa.
GEORGIA WILKINSON-DERUMS
Karen Dalton, “In the Evening”
Karen has to be one of the best songwriters of all time. I listen to her pretty compulsively, and, I mean, not that you’d ever be able to replicate anything she ever does, but I was certainly in a Karen kind of mood when we started writing the album.
Sheryl Crow, “If It Makes You Happy”
We were driving around LA listening to a fair bit of Sheryl. One night we went to a Thai restaurant/karaoke bar and sang a few songs. I ended up derailing my own train by picking this song to sing along to, ring a ding dang. I couldn't really get that one high note, but it doesn’t matter—it made me happy.
Sonny & Cher, “500 Miles”
I think this is close to perfect: simple imagery, simple lyrics. Plus, it's a counting song, it's a numbers game. Our album’s name is Tally. Signs and symbols everywhere.
ANNABEL BLACKMAN
Royal Trux, “Liar”
There’s a strong chance this song inspired a guitar chug on one of our new songs—I’m not saying which one, and I doubt anyone will ever pick this up. Royal Trux are in a whole other league, but I feel good about this ref, ’cause this song makes me wan to backflip off a wall.
Frankie Cosmos, “Against the Grain”
We’ve been buddies with Greta Kline since we opened for the Next Thing tour in Australia in 2016. Frankie Cosmos often soundtracks our road trips, and she gave us a little sneak peek at this album while we were in LA recording, so it permeated our trip. The intro line “I used to get down / But now I really like to be alone” gets me every time.
The Stems, “At First Sight”
Funny how you can have this idea of the kind of song you want to write, and then at the end of the day your finished result will be nothing like the starting thought. With “And What Else,” I had a few references in my head—Shangri-Las, The Replacements—but at the end of the day I really wanted to try and make something as hooky as this iconic Stems song. Tell ’er she’s dreamin…
