Founded by Bradley Murray (ex-owner of Wireless Records, Sunny Disposition), THE FINCH CYCLE is a blend of Brad’s experience in indie rock, and his love of post-rock. The result is a collection of instrumental tracks, which are formed from an indie-rock structure. The Finch Cycle is a project in which Brad performs, engineers and mixes all of the music. His second EP release ‘Barriers to Change’ was recorded at home in regional Victoria, Australia, in the later stages of 2021, during various periods of COVID19 lockdowns in Victoria. Today, we’re giving it a closer look with Brad’s first-hand track by track rundown and his special Spotify tracks from bands worth a good thorough listen.
“Barriers to Change” was mastered by Andrew McLaughlin (Champion Motorist, ex-Radiant City). The EP is available now through various streaming services and Key Control Recordings. With quieter moments paired with louder moments, “Barriers to Change” showcases fantastic dynamics and melds intimate melodics that collide with expansive, spacey soundscapes.
“This is my second EP release.” – comments THE FINCH CYCLE founder Bradley Murray. “It was supposed to be an album, but COVID lockdowns here in Australia meant I was unable to create the sound / music I wanted. Due to being restricted to my house, I still wanted to create something regardless, which is where this EP came from. My hope is to work on an album this year, and fingers crossed, lockdowns pending, it will work out. The four songs on this EP were meant to be part of this album, so perhaps, this will give people an idea of where I am taking this project.”
It’s post -rock at its core but it also dials into that beautifully emotive 90s/early 00s indie rock sound of Australian bands such as Bluebottle Kiss – when it was as important for the guitars to lull and serenade as much as they needed to swerve and coruscate – Doubtful Sounds
[The Finch Cycle is] emerging as one of the most interesting offerings in the post rock genre this year. The result is a multi-layered beauty of a record, blending many contrary moods and locking them into one hell of an experience – IDIOTEQ
The Finch Cycle composes both terrifying and relaxing compositions with an intense atmosphere – Metalperver
‘Barriers to Change’ is released digitally on February 21, 2022 – available through Bandcamp and streaming services, globally. A proud product of Key Control Recordings.
“Barriers to Change” – track by track commentary:
ALWAYS PUNISH OWEN:
My soundtrack for 2021 was primarily two albums: Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers and The Avalanche by Owen. I have listened to these two albums countless times in the last 12 months – and to be honest, I still listen to them fairly regularly – to brilliant albums. I wanted to create a track that has varying rhythmic feels without necessarily changing time signatures, well, except for the middle section!
ADMIT VICTORY:
This is as a direct result of my hours and hours of listening to post metal over the last two years. In particular, I have been spending a lot of time listening to bands like Coastlands, Sky Low and pg.lost. So, I wanted to rock out a little, well, this is my version of rocking out!
OPERATION ISLAND:
The idea behind this song was to create a simple, single melody, and to try and build a whole song around this one repeated idea, which takes quite a while to build intensity. This is my favourite track from the EP.
SPACE CADET CRUMBLED:
The opening track to my debut EP was called Space Cadet Crumble. The last section of that song works really well, so I decided to build a whole song around that one chord pattern and melody. Because it is very similar, I decided to keep the name similar, except for one letter. This is the most ‘post rock’ thing on the EP.
Additionally, Brad has a playlist on Spotify of all his favourite tracks going around – he tries to update this fairly regularly, especially with newly released music:
For more post rock, please follow our Spotify playlist HERE:
