Blissed-out teenage dream pop trio Arbes – made up of Melbourne’s own Sam Pannifex (guitar), Anita Agathangelou (drums) and Jess Zanoni (vocals and bass) – usher in the release of their debut EP Swimmer with new single ‘Beach Side’, a luscious, shimmering ode to forward motion, be it in travel, escape, or the speed at which summer passes us by.
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A thick haze of fraught drums and twinkling strings introduces the track, before erupting into an ambrosial blend of keening, sun-kissed chords and stuttering beats that makes no qualms about propelling its listener into some sweltering seventh heaven of their own design. Meanwhile, lead singer Jess Zanoni tactfully cuts through the glimmer, her voice calling to mind Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino in both the reiterative hypnotism of her melody, and its pleasant, ever-so-slight grit.
The looping riff at the core of ‘Beach Side’, as spellbinding as it is frantic, licks at our feet like the tide of some immense seafront, all baking sand and the wide crystal azure of the open ocean. The waves ebb and loll, haunted softly by the line “Next season / let’s keep still”. But as the song breaks out into sweet reassurances that stretch on and on, far into the distance, it’s clear that Arbes have no intention of staying put for long. Dreamy, superlative magic.
Words by Tom Grantham
@_katelush