VOGS + PET THERAPY + JIMMY HARWOOD

No hot singles in your area? AI girlfriends leaving you feeling unsatisfied? Australia’s new restrictions on free adult content leaving you feeling at once frustrated and relieved? The Late Bloom launch is like ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ for all these issues; but rather than 12 steps, it’s 2 ripping support acts, 1 new single and a whole lot of balloons. Expect heart-wrenching acoustic ballads, blistering indie/atl-rock and toe-tapping diddies. Meet the Artists VOGS, Vinny Owen Grantham-Smith, spends his time obsessively making music in a dusty garage in the inner eastern burbs of Melbourne. As grim as that sounds, the music that has emerged is a reminder that, like mushrooms, good tunes don’t need sunlight to grow. Sounds like: Vampire Weekend, Matt Corby and Half Moon Run. Jimmy Harwood, proof that guy’s wearing tracksuits are incredibly deep, talented and openhearted. Jimmy’s the equivalent of an ‘Ace up the Sleeve’ on any lineup. Passionate songwriting, soul-bearing delivery and a really small guitar. What can be said of Pet Therapy that hasn’t already been said of salted ice cream? A genius combination of flavours; innovative, exciting and new; yet grounded in familiar tradition. If they truly offered psychoanalysis for animals, I would have my Jack Russell ‘Ziggy’ admitted for 6+4 subsidised sessions in hopes that a little bit of their magic rubbed off on him.