“Avenger Level Threat” plays out in the foreground at full intensity. Behind the performer, in the same shot, a sitcom unravels β couches flipped, food airborne, three actors losing composure. Neither side acknowledges the other. The friction between the two halves of the shot is what the music video is built around.
That’s the concept Townhouse β Cooper Smith, Dan Heath, and Matt Burgess β designed for the track, a single off their second EP “Look At Me Now.” The Adelaide alt-rock trio formed out of high school friendships and recorded the EP entirely in a bedroom, plugged into the city’s indie-emo current.
“Avenger Level Threat” marks the EP’s pivot point β the song that catches the exact moment self-control slips and anger takes the wheel. The music video premieres May 3rd.
“The goal was to try and make a sitcom in the background while a performance happened in the front,” the band explain. “The actors can’t see the performerβcan’t regulate their emotions the way they would when being perceivedβand the performer can’t see the fight, but he can feel the energy coming forward.”
The split-shot logic ties back to something running through the whole record. The band put it directly:
“I think people are far more intuitive than they often give themselves credit for. I can think of times as a kid β too young to realize the gravity of any given situation β but knowing something was up. People keeping secrets, faking smiles and whatnotβyou can always feel it, even if they aren’t in the room with you. I think this whole idea of ‘knowing but not KNOWING’ that something is up a big part of our music, particularly this new EP, so we wanted to put it on a screen.”
WyΕwietl ten post na Instagramie
The vocal delivery is the throughline that holds it all together β tight, raspy, the kind that grabs hard on first listen and pulls focus while the back half of the shot collapses into food fights and pillow-flinging. As the song escalates, the picture follows. What lands as silly on the surface β flying snacks, a domestic mess β connects to the song’s emotional climb without needing to spell anything out.
The whole project sits in what the band call “upbeat yet heartbreaking” territory: self-deprecating lyrics, trumpet-tinged alt-rock arrangements, a 90s skate-scene attitude that runs through the trio’s overall aesthetic. They’re a DIY operation in the most literal sense β written, performed, recorded, and produced in-house.
The Adelaide context is its own story. The band are generous about it: “Adelaide is Australia’s littlest sibling. Often dubbed a ‘big country town,’ rather than a city, its tight-knit, slow-paced, and community forward. If you speak to many a local β and even more interstaters β they’ll tell there’s nothing to do in Adelaide, but I think this is where some of the magic comes from. We’re not overwhelmed here; there’s room to think and breathe. Markets aren’t oversaturated, and people are willing to try new things as they pop up.”
“This is the basis of the Adelaide DIY scene; people are willing to try. We have no definitive ‘sound’ in our scene here; people don’t feel the need to sound like the other bands around them or only play ‘x’ venue because ‘that’s what the venue is for.’ It’s really cool to be in a place like this. It seems a little sleepy, but a little bit of digging reveals such a vast arts scene.”
WyΕwietl ten post na Instagramie
They point to peers β Colourblind, TOWNS, The Fuss, Molly Rocket β as the kind of outfits keeping the local current moving. Practice happens at the local University. Stations like 3D radio and wowFM rotate the records. Coverage runs through The Note. The interconnection is the actual engine. “All music scenes are about the ‘hang,’ but I truly believe us Adelaide folk have that down to a fine art.”
“Look At Me Now” was self-recorded and produced by Matt Burgess, mastered by Matt Sazinowsky, with photography by Sofia Menguita. Coverage since the EP’s release has slotted Townhouse alongside Sly Withers and Mom Jeans, with CityMag Adelaide calling the record “upbeat as it is heartbreaking.” The “Avenger Level Threat” music video premieres May 3rd.
