Cleareye Shining is the much anticipated sophomore album from Melbourne industrial postpunk outfit Bitumen. This new album sees the four-piece building on the primitive industrial post-punk of their 2018 debut LP Discipline Reaction (Vacant Valley), broadening their sound further into electronic and synth-based, gothic pop realms. Cutting guitars and stabbing bass remain - as does the dynamic intensity of Discipline Reaction - but now fused with new influences to create an album of diverse, direct and intricately-wrought songs. Guitars, synths, samples, and electronic drums coalesce with the distinct and incendiary vocals of extraordinary frontwoman Kate Binning, whose lyrics weave stories set across ancient times, the modern world and futurist dystopian possibilities. Sometimes romantic, melancholy or full of rage. Known for their intense live performances, Bitumen have played alongside the likes of Lydia Lunch, Peter Murphy, The Chameleons and Drab Majesty among many others. While performing was off the agenda throughout 2020, the band leaned into producing a finely-detailed studio album, experimenting more heavily with electronic instrumentation, layered vocals, and house and breakbeat-inspired percussion. Cutting guitars and stabbing bass remain - as does the dynamic intensity of Discipline Reaction - but now fused with a new palette to create an album of diverse, direct and intricately-wrought songs. The resulting album evokes nostalgia, all the while carving something entirely new and singularly exciting. It's a stone-cold killer record. ""??With Cleareye Shining Bitumen have created a true work of art that is entirely their own. It furthers the canons of industrial, post-punk & electronica into bold new territory both beautifully refined and exhilaratingly unnerving."" 4ZZZfm
