It Records 2021 Australia BRAND NEW - Sealed 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 in to 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.” Dominique Furphy 4ZZZfm“(Cleayeye Shining) Summons the Spirit of Dreamy Early 90s Alt Rock…sounds like that sweet spot in post-punk and goth-tinged alternative rock that you will find from bands like Curve and Medicine.”Alice Teeple Post-punk.comGENRE: POST-PUNK, SYNTH-PUNK, SYNTH-POP, DARKWAVE, GOTHIC, ELECTRONIC ROCK, INDUSTRIAL, ALTERNATIVERIYL: SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES, BOY HARSHER, KILLING JOKE, CURVE, MEDICINE, DEPECHE MODE, DRAB MAJESTY, MOLCHAT DOMA, SEXTILE, MALARIA!, RIKI, PATRIARCHY * Did you know IT Records is a local indie label run by one of our staff? Long-time Dixons employee Kate Reid runs the label when she's not in the shop selling records for us. Here is a little bit about the label: It Records is a niche independent label out of Melbourne Australia, with a unique roster that includes electronic, rock, pop and experimental artists, drawn from diverse genres with a “dark” bent (eg. Post- punk, darkwave, Leftfield, Psych Rock, neofolk, industrial, and synth-wave). Founded in 2014 the label is very much centred in the Melbourne underground scene, the label includes work from emerging artists as well as established and influential musicians. Drawing a parallel between what these artists are doing now and the influence of the music that has come out of the Melbourne and Australian underground in the past.
