The debut long player from Sydney’s Negative Gears is a must have for anyone whose record collection contains both Japan’s ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ and Abrasive Wheels’ ‘When The Punks Go Marching In !’. Let’s widen the net a bit…. are you a No Trend and early Echo & The Bunnymen enjoyer? More directly: if you have had an intimate relationship with Australian groups that’ve straddled the Punk, Noise/Art Rock and New Romantic line like Total Control, Low Life, True Radical Miracle and Diat, (Molly Meldrum voice) do yourself a favour and check out Moraliser! It feels a little demeaning spelling out NG as being in that Aus Underground lineage, as you could see some creative entrepreneurial shit heads capitalising on this gap-in-the-market, but it’s a long haul journey with trials and tribulations that have landed them at a sound that’s both organically and with deep perseverance, their own. The albums press release speaks of ‘gross things that exist in this city’, Sydney, but I can’t help think about the members pre-existence bands in the periphery cities of Canberra and Newcastle, and a stint in the cold creative hub of Melbourne as experiences that inform both their sound and the perspectives expressed in this fine record. - Nic Moraliser by Negative Gears
