Neil Young And Dumb
Independent
The fresh-faced look of the chaps in Split Seconds doesn’t tell the tale of the amount of years that they have spent in and out of pubs as they cut their teeth in other bands. Split Seconds initially formed to play the tunes that Sean Pollard wrote while he was living in Europe, and has grown into the songwriter’s finest hours.
Neil Young And Dumb is the first set of material that has been conceived in their new(ish) home of Melbourne. Of the six tracks here, Halfway There would be the most familiar to many as its been kicking around for a few months, with its stand out hook and Kathryn Rollins lending the chaps a hand with some earthy vocals.
Pollard flexes his songwriting muscle with each song hitting a different part of the melodic spectrum. She Fell Into A Safe Pair Of Hands is the territory where Split Seconds shine the most. It is a slice of spritely Australian pop that sounds like it could have been penned by Grant McClennan, so it is then no surprise when Pollard references The Go-Betweens in the tongue-in-cheek acoustic romp (I Didn’t) Leave The House.
When they were in our hometown, Split Seconds were the best band in Perth. With Neil Young And Dumb, they have since graduated to becoming the best pop band in Australia at the moment.
CHRIS HAVERCROFT
