Album review: Stand Atlantic – WAS HERE

Do you ever just need to remind yourself who the fuck you are? WAS HERE can help you do that. The fourth album from Sydney’s Stand Atlantic carries a sort of confidence that’s catching, it’s like a thump to the back of the head or a friend giving you some serious tough love.

Across 15 tracks, the flaming four-piece delve into the complexities of moving on from tumultuous life experiences, baring even the ugliest of emotions like gritted teeth – anger, pettiness, regret. In turn, they create an affirming record which examines pain through a realistic lens.

WAKE UP, SIT DOWN, SHUT UP first takes us inside the grips of struggle. It’s an opener that carries unease and a certain numbness, as it acknowledges a lack of control over one’s life amid crunching guitar breaks from David Potter.

As they travel through the stories puzzled together here, they follow an arc of jadedness and chaos into redemption and understanding. LOVE U ANYWAY brings in an acoustic jangle which teeters on sarcastic, as well as electronic, pop-y runs as Bonnie Fraser sings, ‘I’m sick of looking at you, but love you anyway’, while the similarly-titled 17 and 17 / REPRIZE [ONE TAKE] tell a back-to-back tale of teen trauma.

‘I wish we never fucking met’, Bonnie sings on the former. ‘How do you even deal with that shit when you’re 17?’ It plunges deep into the hurt. The latter, though, brings in a softer, more evolved take. Lying on a bed of piano, it explores the rage from a state of retrospect in adulthood. It’s accepting, though not forgiving.

WAS HERE is a permission slip to be inexplicably messy, confused, angry, and yet at peace with all of that. Its title is even a statement of such emotional purging, as if it might leave behind a sour emotional bile after listening. It would be evidence that STAT were, indeed, here in this period of time, figuring out their shit along with us, and purging what no longer serves them.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: PVRIS, Yours Truly, Waterparks

WAS HERE is released on August 23 via Hopeless

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