Melbourne may be the sporting capital of Australia, but its real crowning attributes are its café and music culture. Already named one of the best cities in the world to get a cappuccino, Melbourne’s warehouse spaces, 24 hour licenses and relaxed regulation have incubated one of the best localized clubbing scenes in the world – there aren’t many cities in the world where you would hear Kowton b2b Tessela spilling out into the main city street from a terrace at 8am.
Cafés and dance music usually inhabit different worlds, but the two go together perfectly in Melbourne. There is no greater luxury than a good breakfast after an evening on the dancefloor, and Melbourne provides some of the best establishments for morning-after discussions and long recoveries fueled by perfect caffeine, bacon and poached eggs.
Café Romantica, by Melbourne artists Andras Fox and Oscar Key Sung, connects the city’s two intertwining worlds perfectly; a soothing Sunday morning soundtrack, with Oscar’s vocals drifting in and out of Andras’ soft production. The pair only separate on two tracks – ‘Take Our Time’, a slightly mournful harpsichord workout, and ‘Tutorials’, where Andras gets the drums and pianos moving. Despite having a distinct style, the album does manage to avoid sounding too similar between tracks, with ‘Everytime I Go’ and ‘Make It Better’ shining as two perfect slices of Australian pop, while the whole album flows easily when listened to in one take.
Released just in time for Australia’s summer and festival season, Café Romantica will certainly be making waves down under, but ripples will surely start being felt this side of the equator soon enough. Throw out your Berocca and neurofen, put the kettle on, bacon in the pan, and enjoy.
Café Romantica is out now on Chapter Music and available from their website.
