Rolling Blackouts C.F.: Hope Downs (Vinyl LP)

It's rare that a band's debut album sounds as confident and self-assured as Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever's Hope Downs.

To say that the first full-length from the Melbourne quintet improves on their buzz-building EPs from the last few years would be an understatement: the promise those early releases hinted at is fully realized here, with ten songs of urgent, passionate guitar pop that elicit warm memories of bands past, from the Go-Betweens' jangle to the charmingly lo-fi trappings of New Zealand's Flying Nun label.

But don't mistake Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever for nostalgists: Hope Downs is the sound of a band finding its own collective voice.

1. An Air Conditioned Man
2. Talking Straight
3. Mainland
4. Time In Common
5. Sister's Jeans
6. Bellarine
7. Cappuccino City
8. Exclusive Grave
9. How Long?
10. The Hammer