Take 5 With Blanco Tranco

Melbourne four-piece Blanco Tranco have at long last released their debut full-length ‘The Imagined Life’, out now digitally and on vinyl via Honeyglider Records. Blending shoegaze haze with pop clarity, surf rock shimmer with dream pop atmosphere, the record marks a bold evolution in the band’s sound and a milestone in their life as a band. For this ‘Take 5’, Blanco Tranco walk us through five albums that shaped ‘The Imagined Life’.

GUTS – Olivia Rodrigo (Tiff)

This album made me a fan. I was definitely one of those people who thought I was too cool to enjoy teenage girl things as a literal teenage girl. Like that is top 40 stuff, I’m far too indie for that shit. Reconnecting with that inner angsty teenage girl was so incredibly healing for me and it gave me this empowerment to be upfront in my writing. The song All American Bitch particularly resonated, it really nailed this complete mindfuck of girlhood and of being a woman, but also how sacred so many of these experiences are in relating to one another.

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TREK – Shady Nasty (Matt)

Shady Nasty are an Aussie band that just keeps getting better, and it’s great to see them finally getting the global attention they deserve. TREK, their debut full-length, expands on their signature sound. Tracks like G-SHOCK and SCREWDRIVER capture their love of hooning around Sydney in Nissan Skylines and Volvo 240s, while the post-punk moshing of HARDCORE is an ode to Campsie (a suburb of Sydney) replicating their live energy. The album moves away from their earlier Show Me The Body-style post-hardcore and explores deeper themes with emotive lyrics. I.D.W.L. tackles the pressures of meeting family expectations and searching for identity, while the shoegaze-infused CAREDBRAH is a reflection on the solace of mateship/fraternal love. The album is capped by 2008, which is a particularly poignant moment, a bittersweet reflection on a lost youth and the feeling of a past that’s gone for good. Their ability to push the boundaries of what’s possible with just guitar, bass, and drums has been a huge inspiration for my own writing. After a show a while back, I talked to Kevin about guitar pedals. It was a great conversation, and it led me to get a Red Panda Tensor. The loops from that pedal play a big part on The Imagined Life.

Apollo – Brian Eno (Matt)

I’ve listened to Apollo pretty much every day for the past three years.  The album was written as a soundtrack to hours of film footage of the Apollo 11 mission and the  moon landing. It features lots of slide guitar which is not something I’m usually into. I read that it was because the main music the astronauts were listening to in space was country and western music. I love the idea of a bunch of spacemen listening to cowboy music as they explore the final frontier. The song An Ending is one of the most moving pieces of music I’ve ever listened to. It’s no wonder the track has featured on many film soundtracks.

Reckoning – R.E.M (Mark)

People always used to talk about 80s era R.E.M in some hushed tones and so after bringing them in quite a lot I like to hope some of that came out when writing Cloud Talk and Bold For A Moment. 

Cloud Talk started out me trying something minimalist but sincere like Camera, having the chorus build up to be really noisy and then go back to quiet in the verses but with a bit of the noise ringing in your ears. For Bold For A Moment I was aping that sense of floating weightlessness, but still a rock song which I think really only R.E.M. pull off with stuff like Annalise as well as shit they did later on like Man on the Moon. The way they get such emotion out of such a simple arpeggio on the chorus of 7 Chinese Brothers was also something I went for with Bold. Plus Michael Stipe’s voice is 1 of 1. At the risk of sounding unoriginal it’s pretty much all on there.

Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – Chappell Roan (Sophie)

I was listening to a lot of Chappell Roan while we were recording this album. I love the momentum and confidence in the Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. I wanted the drums to drive the songs and give them a steady pulse without dominating the melodies or vocals. This album had a lot of tight, energetic beats with a subtle 80s tinge that naturally fit our sound.