Pet Therapy break new ground on EP Various Ways To See The Light

Naarm/Melbourne six-piece ensemble Pet Therapy have dropped their mind blowing new extended-play Various Ways To See The Light.

Mixing many diverse rock influences including post-punk, progressive, folk, indie and traditional Spanish music, the band is refreshingly original take on rock music.

Band members Salvador Peralta, Ethan Sekulovski, Ella De Nijs, Aidan Laurie-Mebalds and Cleo Benzon-Tuke are a deeply talented group of musicians and collaborators - all sharing in creative duties to serve the wider sound of the project.

Track one, I Wouldn’t Skate sets a menacing tone to a reflective yet existential song. Reminiscent of early Black Country, New Road mixed with King Krule and The Strokes, the band creeps into your ears with a terrifying energy.

With a fantastic a capella section, the song somehow manages to have moments of horror, ecstasy and everything in between.

Follow up track No Amends internally contrasts with a much more traditionally indie-rock energy - chorus drenched guitars and laid back energy - yet again brings a sense of menace with contrasting instrumentation, Slint-styled guitar buildups and bass fills between empty bars.

Featuring a Spanish language voicemail during the bridge, the song is a psychedelic journey into a past unknown.

Final track Red. Red. Red… name drops the EP title in its opening line, selectively bookending the record with an all encompassing reflective energy.

A beautiful lo-fi ballad, the song oscillates between that tense anxious energy of previous songs and something else - a beautiful love for something greater.

Again, Spanish takes centre stage in sections of the track, forcing a non-fluent listener to reflect on the tone of the vocals and instrumentation over the lyrics.

Overall, the EP is a brilliant taste of something truly greater than the standard of Australian rock music. Pet Therapy’s Various Ways To See the Light is a brilliant EP, I only wish it was longer!