After last year’s much lauded reissue of Lena d’Água’s Jardim Zoológico, Antipodean label Strangelove Music move closer to home to bring us two cuts from Australian synth-pop
duo ARVO’s 1984 album Luna: ‘Bikini’ and ‘So Deep’.
After extensive time touring and writing with separate projects in Europe, Deborah Gary and Roy Nicolson came together back home in Sydney ready to claim a space for the dreamy textures of synth pop in Australia’s rock-dominated musical landscape. While the album initially fell under the radar, this timely reissue brings these two tracks firmly into the now with reworks from Australia’s own Hysteric and Paris-based producer Shelter.
Shelter extends the sleazy balearic chug of Bikini to a more DJ-friendly five minutes 33, making more of the eerily melancholic pads that briefly break up the bassline-driven boogie and irreverently cheesy glockenspiel noodling of the verses. Added to this the drawling, euphemistic spoken word of the verses makes this a steamy jam for these long hot summer nights.
Bikini / So Deep is out 31st July – buy from Bandcamp.
