Goldfish Smarts Release EP

Philly Kelly and his impressive ensemble, Goldfish Smarts, come surfing from the coasts of Sydney to deliver their hot new EP Between Moonlight and the Music Shed. I’ll just be frank and straightforward with you, this album is great. If you’re someone starved for some old-school Rock, get in line because so are Goldfish Smarts.  Formed in the simpler times of 2018, this rock group of aged music listening veterans has come together to do what they love: make music and make you love music too. It’s a pretty short and sweet listening experience with only five tracks to its name, but it’ll leave you begging for the hopeful extended inevitable full album release.

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/goldfishsmarts/

Each track has a distinct flavor that makes it stand apart from the next and you never quite know what you’re getting. Sometimes you get hit with a harmonica-infused soulful ballad, and other times you get a hard-rocking jolt to the system that’ll keep you up and toe-tapping. The band is super well versed (no pun intended) at this point having released numerous singles that you can find on most major musical platforms and their growth so quickly is simply impressive. Obvious fans of the classics, they send up and pay tribute to what they love and with gravitas. They go through the emotional gambit of the want for adventure, love, the anger of an unjust world, and the desire to be respected and celebrated for being who you are. It’s been nice to see that 2021 has already seen an influx of positive jams in a pretty crummy world right now.

DEEZER: https://www.deezer.com/us/artist/51776922/radio?autoplay=true

It’s not to say that this album is perfect mind you. Sometimes the vocals feel a little out of sync and I’m not sure that was by design or not. It’s not too out of step, but it’s like when you see a video is just a hair slower than the audio. That only goes for maybe one or two tracks out of the lot, with the others being a near-flawless performance of some soon-to-be killer hits. Going back to the sense of homage, the track “Blame It On The” is maybe one of the best examples of such. It has the sound and almost the same hook of the song “Sweet Home Alabama” and its lyrics seemingly pay homage to the likes of ‘Space Cowboy’ from the Steve Miller Band with lyrics such as “blame it on the joker, blame it on the thief.” and even with its own clever and seemingly dark lyrics “you gotta die a little to deserve acquittal” take some time to truly process just because you’ll get swept up into the upbeat rhythms they produce. In the future, I would love to see the band maybe dive into more complex feelings because you can feel them really tap into it and it’s super effective like in ‘Blame’ and with the passion and maturity they handle it, I’d love to see them be less restrained and truly embrace their outspoken nature, which we could use.

Mindy McCall