"New Views is an outstanding and expertly-crafted work, filled with instrumentally-complex tracks that captivate and surprise with every listen."

DUDERAMA – Album Review: New Views

eclecticmusiclover.com/2021/02/11/duderama-album-review-new-views/

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New Duderama LP 'New Views' - a lesson in the joyousness of lo-fi indie rock

Melbourne, Australia: Duderama's eighth self-produced release, New Views, is a timely reminder that remote collaborations are not only essential but have long been a source of scintillating explorations in rock.

At a fundamental level, New Views is a lo-fi exploration in the essential elements that make rock appealing physically and aesthetically, while still challenging the listener's preconceptions of what rock is or could be. The place usually assigned to narrative or self-portrait is instead devoted to celebrating the purely musical features of a rock tune that elevate the mood and sooth the heart and mind. Valuable traits in this day and age.

This new collection from the prolific DIY instrumental guitar rock duo, is at once hypnotic and propulsive with its paradigm-shifting melodic excursions and adventurous avant-rock. And like most things these days, it's all been achieved remotely. Except, with Duderama, they've been doing it this way since 2015, when Liam S was based in Ethiopia and Pierce B in Melbourne, Australia.

Although this partnership had its origins in the small but spirited alt-rock live scene in Canberra in the 90s, the remote process first adopted by the duo involved a rawness and primitivism that left fans of their earlier bands wondering what had happened. "Had they lost their chops through mishap or misadventure?" The truth is rather less intriguing, as it was the authentic remoteness of the Horn of Africa that led Duderama to achieve their early collaborations through phone apps and compressed files that were barely able to squeeze their way through the intermittent (or non-existent) internet of the authoritarian regime at the time.

While their recording and collaboration tools are significantly better supported these days, the constraints of file sharing as a platform for artistic collaboration still loom large in an art form that derives its life blood from live performance. But, as demonstrated by New Views, the sharing of sound files provides other avenues of opportunity - doors that aren't necessarily ajar during face-to face collaboration. For example, the reinterpretation of a piece of music part way through its creation is evident throughout this album and provides for moments of undisputed originality and excitement.

Duderama have previously performed with a multitude of fellow rock-lifers including 90s alt-rock influencers Narco Wendy, seminal lounge-rock outfit Coocoo Fondoo, UK-based noir-folk songwriter Michael Plater and experimental rock troubadour Marsden Williams to name a few; and can more recently be found adding their unique sonic expressionism to the eclectic Various Artists collection What Colour Is Sound?

While everyone else is lauding their new-found capacity for remote collaboration, check in with the duo who have been doing it for years. This highly digestible 11-track 2020 lockdown collaboration (New Views) is an elixir for these dark and strange times, where deftly executed and inventive guitar rock interplay can provide a simple joy amidst an era of mass anxiety. A lesson in the joyousness of lo-fi indie rock made with passion.