Eora/Sydney-based indie-rock group The Tambourine Girls return with their long-awaited full-length album, ‘Hold Your Horses’.
Recorded entirely in a shed on the quiet outskirts of Armidale, surrounded by bushland, the album was self-produced and engineered by bassist Pat Harris. Mixing duties were split between Nick Franklin (Ocean Alley, Polish Club, Hockey Dad) and Tony Buchen (Spacedust, Smashing Pumpkins, Mick Flannery), with mastering by Matt Stewart.
‘Hold Your Horses’ captures a band navigating the weight of loss after the passing of close friend and bandmate Nick Weaver, finding their way forward through raw expression and shared history. The result is a lush, dynamic soundscape where airy synths, lo-fi grit, and driving hooks exist side by side.
“Effectively this is two albums distilled into one,” explains lead singer Simon Relf. “The album title and cover drawing comes from a t-shirt Pat designed years ago, which we all loved. I always wanted to make an album called ‘Hold Your Horses’, but after Nick died I wrote so many songs of grief that I thought that I was working on a record called ‘Sad Parties’. Eventually I got tired of the constant eulogising and always speaking about Nick as someone who died, rather than someone who lived. When the three of us started playing together, it felt important to acknowledge how lucky we are to be together, and so the album has anger and sadness in it, but also resolution and joy in the mystery.”
The trio – Simon Relf, Pat Harris, and Carlos Adura – continue to draw on literary and classic songwriting roots reminiscent of The Shins, Crowded House, and Tom Petty. Adding to a body of work that spans their 2014 debut EP ‘The End of Time’, their self-titled 2016 album, ‘Waiting For Pleasure’ (2018), and ‘Different Streets’ (2023), ‘Hold Your Horses’ represents the band’s most honest and complete sonic statement to date.
To mark the release, The Tambourine Girls will perform an intimate album launch show in Bootleggers in Sydney on Friday, September 18.
With thanks to Good Intent
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