The origins of Melbourne progressive alt-indie rockers Desert Bones can be found in a place anything but the barren landscape their name suggests. It was high in the hills of central Victoria under the dark shadow of Mt Macedon that Bracken Blake (vocals, guitar) and Mat Evans (drums, bass, vocals) started cooking up elements of their powerful debut album Shy Existence, set for release this year. The first single, “Hard Life” was conceived in these pristine surroundings looking down upon an ever-expanding city skyline, and the soaring alt-indie gem is set to announce them as one of the fiercest new acts on the independent circuit. 

After spending more than two years fine-tuning their material Desert Bones come out swinging with the release of “Hard Life”. The acoustic driven intro manages to lull the listener into a false sense of security before it explodes with some mighty progressions and intelligent song writing. The leviathan intensity of the chorus comes like a rock thrown through a stained glass window and will loop in one’s head from the first listen. Bracken’s gravelly, emotion filled vocal ability is on full display throughout the track, his song writing channeling the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. 

Bracken says the lyrics for “Hard Life” came to him while fishing on a jetty in Broome WA. “This was actually one of the few songs I had the lyric for before picking up a guitar,” Bracken says. “Once the guitar was in my hands the song literally came together in under ten minutes. It was originally an acoustic finger picking song, but once I moved back to Melbourne and started jamming with Evo again we messed around with the structure, beefed it up and gave it some muscle, and there it was.” 

“Our music and songs seem to be evolving every time we play them, were always writing and re-working different parts” Mat explains of their approach. “I think it makes the tracks more interesting for us and hopefully the listener” 

“Hard Life” is a solid introduction to Desert Bones for fans of progressive indie-rock. Rest assured, their follow up material and debut forthcoming album Shy Existence will lead them down a path that’s sometimes dark, sometimes uplifting and completely unpredictable. 

For Fans Of: Cog | At The Drive In | The Mars Volta | Tool 

“Hard Life” by DESERT BONES will be released 22nd of April 2016.

STREAM IT HERE 

Links:

www.facebook.com/Desert-Bones