
Australian band The Broken Needles debut album, Terra Nullius, is a ghost story about escaping from their grim, desolate hometown in North Queensland. It is a journey through the seedy seaside caravan parks, salt flats, flood plains, cyclone damage and sordid characters that dot the landscape, and it is delivered with a mix of country balladry and spit ‘n’ snarl punk rock that is a little like Tom Waits fronting the Mekons.
It is everything and more that you would hope it would be: decadent, vicious, raw, eerie and uncompromising – the musical equivalent of a feral dog fighting for scraps where the only rule that counts is winner takes all.
Featuring a litany of musical guests throughout – including a demented guitar solo by fellow North Queenslander Jordan Ireland (ex The Middle East) on lead single Saltflat Baby (which you can grab below), Terra Nullius is all at once a lyrical homage, love letter, suicide note and death threat to their home country.
Purchase from their Bandcamp page here.
Download The Broken Needles – Cheap Gin mp3 (from Terra Nullius)
Download The Broken Needles – Saltflat Baby mp3 (from Terra Nullius)
Follow @madmackerel