Beetle Bones by The Nature Strip

Beetle Bones is the culmination of nearly ten years of pop and roll exploration and the third full-length album from Sydney’s The Nature Strip. The group started when Pete Marley (bass mostly) asked John Encarnacao (guitar mostly) for help finishing some songs he’d been writing. Aside from a couple of songs for his early Nineties band Swordfish, Pete had been more a player than a writer, not least in a vehicle for John’s songs, 2000s group Warmer, who released albums with W.Minc and Half a Cow. The Nature Strip features the songs and singing of both. Essential to the realisation of this album are the other two members of The Nature Strip, Matt Langley on keyboards (mostly) and Jess Ciampa on drums (mostly). Sorry for all the mostlys – you’ll see if you look closely at the credits that there tends to be some swapping around and extracurricular instrumental activity.

Beetle Bones reflects the mix of home recording and proper studio sessions that has resulted in all their releases sharing polish and makeshift-ness, solid craft and trial-and-error. They flirt with hard rock (John’s “Hildegard ünd Winifred”), funk (Pete’s “Peace and Light”), synth pop (Pete’s “Inside Voice”) and a kind of blues (John’s “Broken Leg”). Pete looks down the lens of domesticity (try “I’m a wreck and you’re the storm” from “Inside Voice”) and long-distance relationship blues (“Miss You More”); John delivers an indelible melody and mood on “Break Through” and does a kind of acoustic punk thing on “I Wanna Do The Right Thing”. Pete becomes a crusty, crazed disciple of the ocean on “Great Big Wave” and John takes a honey-soaked metaphor to flight on “Save The Hive”.

The Nature Strip’s eclectic mix works from a bedrock of “new wave” influences (XTC, Costello, Blondie, Talking Heads) combined with more recent threads of singer-songwriter practice (Elliott Smith, Laura Marling). The album is full of little details that reward repeated listening - the xylophone and orchestral cymbals of “Tide Song”, the recorder solo on “Peace and Light”, the brass section on “Eyes Are Blinded”, the radio static doubling as seaside ambience on “Great Big Wave” (not to mention the Casio solo), the squelching synthesizer on “Right Thing” and “Broken Leg” . . . Beetle Bones is quite a trip - 14 songs and nearly an hour long - that The Nature Strip hopes you will take with them.

Tracklist

1.	Tide Song	3:07

2.	Break Through	3:56

3.	Waterfall	3:29

4.	Peace and Light	4:32

5.	Hildegard und Winifred	3:25

6.	Eyes Are Blinded	4:48

7.	We Don't Like The Heat	4:53

8.	Broken Leg	4:09

9.	Inside Voice	3:24

10.	Miss You More	3:03

11.	I Wanna Do The Right Thing	3:20

12.	Save The Hive	3:59

13.	Great Big Wave	5:22

14.	Supermoon	3:54

Credits

released August 9, 2017

The Nature Strip - Beetle Bones credits
Produced and arranged by Pete Marley and John Encarnacao
Recorded and mixed by Pete Marley except basic tracks for Tide Song, Peace and Light, Eyes are Blinded, Save the Hive and Supermoon recorded by Matt Fell
Mastered by Mitchell Hart
Brass and xylophone arrangements by John Encarnacao
VW photos by Zoë Carides and John Encarnacao
Artwork by Cameron Whipp
The Nature Strip is Pete Marley, John Encarnacao, Jess Ciampa, Matt Langley.

1. Tide Song (Encarnacao) 3:07
John - vocals, guitars; Jess - drums, xylophone, tam tam; Pete - bass guitar; Matt - organ

2. Break Through (Encarnacao) 3:56
John - vocals, guitars, organ; Pete - bass guitar, 12-string sparkle; Jess - drums

3. Waterfall (Marley) 3:29
Pete - vocals, guitars; John - bass guitar, guitars, vocals; Jess – drums; Matt - organ

4. Peace and Light (Marley) 4:29
Jess – drums; John - bass guitar, recorder; Pete - vocals, guitars, bass synth, robot piano; Matt - synth

5. Hildegard ünd Winifred (Encarnacao) 3:22
Jess – drums; John - vocals, guitars; Pete - bass guitar, vocals; Matt - piano

6. Eyes Are Blinded (Encarnacao) 4:44
John - vocals, guitars; Jess – drums; Pete - bass guitar, vocals; Matt - organ, harmomium; Brendan Smyly - snakecharmin’ soprano sax, tenor sax; Kendal Cuneo – trumpet; Danny Carmichael - trombone

7. We Don’t Like The Heat (Marley) 4:50
Pete - vocals, guitars, keyboards, samples, double bass, bass guitar, drum programming; John - heat-seeking guitar

8. Broken Leg (Encarnacao) 4:07
Jess - drums, vocals; John - vocals, guitar, star collector synth, percussion; Pete - bass guitar, vocals

9. Inside Voice (Marley) 3:24
Pete - vocals, guitars, keyboards, drum programming; John - scalpel

10. Miss You More (Marley) 3:00
Pete - vocals, piano, guitars, basses, keyboards, percussion; Jess - drums

11. I Wanna Do The Right Thing (Encarnacao) 3:18
John - vocals, synth, guitars; Pete - bass guitar, field recording; Jess - drums

12. Save The Hive (Encarnacao) 3:57
John - vocals, guitars; Pete - bass guitar, double bass, vocals; Jess - drums, vocals; Matt - organ

13. Great Big Wave (Marley-Encarnacao) 5:19
Jess – drums; John - radio, Casio CK-10, organ, guitars, vocals; Pete - vocals, odyssey
Brendan Smyly - tenor sax; Kendal Cuneo – trumpet; Danny Carmichael - trombone

14. Supermoon (Marley) 3:53
Pete - vocals, guitars, percussion; John - guitars, organ, vocals; Jess – drums; Matt - stellar keyboard; Matt Fell - bass guitar (while tracking); Michael delaMotte - backing vocals, vocal inspiration.

Thanks to: Mick D., Tony Bibby, Austage Events, Biff and the Cush, Aitchy & Reg, SandyBSnares, Luke Bozzetto, Kitty, Zoë, Bronwyn, Sonia and Paris, Edie and Baxter, The Midnight Special, Max at the Union, Camelot Lounge, Jonathan H., Stephen Creswell, Baz and Egg Records, James and Radio Free Alice, Red Eye, Repressed and Beatdisc, Scott Holmes, Jadey and Tim, The Big Fuse, Bruno, Andrew K. and 2SER, Don and I Don’t Hear a Single, Josh Meadows and It’s a Jangle Out There, Dave Graney, Paul Gough, Paul Smith @ SMH, 4ZZZ, Stuart Coupe, Keith Claringbold and Tony Egan.

Released by China Pig Records, 2017 // CHI 1713

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