WA's Dolce Blue have crafted the perfect soundtrack to your chilled out weekend with the new expanded version of their sophomore album Sweet Melancholy Deluxe, a huge body of work spanning 20 coastal-vibe-infused songs. In an age where so much of what we consume is short-form and driven by instant gratification, Sweet Melancholy invites you to take time to sit in one space and ponder before jumping to the next idea. These tunes will envelop you in dreamy indie guitars, surprise you with some fun feel-changes, and get you in an introspective but positive mood with the balance of sweet and sour themes.
Hailing from Kalamunda, the alt-pop/indie-rock 4-piece are cementing themselves in the Aussie indie scene, having already featured in RTRFM's most played songs from 2020 to 2023, received national airplay on Triple J and Unearthed, and the band has embarked on a national tour, including an unofficial showcase at BIGSOUND 2023 and shared stages with bands including Sly Withers, Shag Rock, Noah Dillon, Lucy Peach, Didirri, Little Quirks, and Ghost Care.
The opening track of Sweet Melancholy Deluxe, ‘Grow’ sets the scene for the album with a breezy groove, a cool pentatonic guitar lick, and some skanking from the rhythm guitar. I was instantly charmed by the San Cisco-esque vocal, and fun clap moments.
As the album progresses, each song exists in its own distinct world usually lead by the guitar ideas, but it’s very cohesive as a body of work with a larger story arc. Tracks like ‘Dream Catcher’ (which we get a second version of feat. Finn Pearson later on), ‘Goodbyes’ and ‘Valentino' call to mind the sounds of Spacey Jane, ‘Dinosaurs’ gives Vance Joy’s ‘Saturday Sun’ vibes, and we’re treated to some really cool 80s tones and drum sounds in songs like ‘Sugar Free’.
My favourite tunes on the album would have to be ‘Dream Catcher’, ‘Brown Leather Jacket’, ‘The Finest’ and ‘Talking With The Sun’.
The first two are conveniently back to back on the track list; ‘Dream Catcher’ is just an all-around good vibe full of summery sounds, easy-going pentatonic riffs, and I love the chord progression in the chorus. It cruises at an even pace and will put you in a relaxed mood.
’Brown Leather Jacket’ pushes things a little more with some cool feel changes between a 6/8 A-section and and 4/4 B-section. The contrast between the stripped back B-section with octave vocal harmonies and the A-section with more momentum is really satisfying. The song builds well too; enter synth in second B-section for some intensity before the song comes to a close.
‘The Finest’ features a catchy chorus, and contains probably my favourite moment on the album: a stripped back drum cross stick + speaking-style vocal moment before an emotive guitar solo. It goes hard.
‘Talking With The Sun’ is another one with a cool feel change, from upbeat 4/4 to half time 6/8. This song would go well on a playlist with ‘Is This How You Feel’ by The Preatures and maybe some Methyl Ethel tunes.
I have one more honourable mention - ‘Valentino’ has an Italiano version towards the end of the album, and it’s just so fun. Being an Italian girlie myself, this had me pretty stoked.
Listen to Sweet Melancholy below:
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