The Elk CollectiveBig Trouble

Huh. There’s something different about The Elk Collective–but what? Known for never taking themselves too seriously, new EP Big Trouble runs with a punchy punk undertone and those classic opposing vocals, clean and nasty. And yet it feels like the Sydney post-hardcore outfit adopt a new sense of maturity in their music–but it might be one they’re not aware of.

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It’s like when someone gets a new haircut but you’re not sure if they have–you want to say nice things about their new look but you’re worried you might make them feel like they’ve changed too much. That’s what it’s like to listen to Big Trouble. The Elk Collective have run with some new ideas, some bigger sounds, stuff that’s working really well for them. So it’s not to say this is a bad release, it just… induces deep thought. The EP makes you want to compliment the new edge they’ve adopted but cautiously.

That mesh of clean and gnarly vocals is actually pretty darn cool and it may be the note of maturity and development you want to pin down as you listen.

Unusually for The Elk Collective, its vocalists can be taken a lot more seriously on this release. That mesh of clean and gnarly vocals is actually pretty darn cool and it may be the note of maturity and development you want to pin down as you listen. The Elk Collective are still the jokers they’ve always been if the video for single Chokkas is anything to go by, but, like it or not, The Elk Collective are just getting better and better, and experience may have something to do with that.

STAND OUT TRACKS: Baps, Chokkas, Muscle Up Buttercup
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Thrice, Polaris, Architects