Seabellies

Think you know the Seabellies? Think again. The band has undergone some changes since bursting onto the music scene from nowhere in 2007, including fine-tuning their energetic live set and unique sound. Now, after a long and focused preparation, Seabellies are ready to unleash their debut album, By Limbo Lake, and as witnessed by the soaring, opening notes of this stunning debut, they are ready to win your hearts and minds for good this time.

“Everything changed when we won the Garage To V competition in 2007,” explains frontman Trent Grenell. “It forced us to rethink our song writing, rethink our live show, and become a bit more professional. That was the real start of the Seabellies.”

Early shows had established the group as an ambitious, if slightly shambolic, indie rock band with complex song structures and diverse instrumentation. After their first rush of publicity in 2007, the Seabellies decided to smooth off some of the rough edges that were obscuring their sound. “Back then, there were a lot of tangents, a lot of instrument-swapping onstage,” says Grenell. “We learnt to embrace that early chaotic spirit and really hone our craft.”

The band spent most of 2008, writing new material, refining their existing tracks and planning their next move. Grenell says, “in the beginning we were very fresh and new to it all, but we knew it was important not to rush.”

The Seabellies haven’t been completely silent over the last two years: they’ve released four digital singles, all recorded in different studios with different producers. The band’s aim was to really understand the recording process and become familiar with working in a studio, so they knew how they wanted to approach recording their debut long-player. Astoundingly these four studio ‘experiments’ all garnered full rotation airplay on Triple J and national community radio stations; and in October 2008, they played the CMJ Music Marathon in New York to critical acclaim, sharing the stage with Mùm, Veils, and Passion Pit. Finally, in May 2009, writing and pre-production fine-tuned on the road, they entered Albert Studios in Sydney to lay down tracks for By Limbo Lake.

The album sessions blew out to seven weeks as the band attempted to capture all their inspiration on tape. Veteran Australian producer Wayne Connolly manned the boards: “He controlled the chaos,” says Grenell. “We had a lot of ideas, and a lot of instruments, he streamlined it all.” As Wayne is a fellow songwriter, “he always looks for true essence of the song and helped capture our raw elements on the record.”

The finished album manages to embody everything that makes the Seabellies a captivating band: it’s full of rich melodies, layered instrumentation and a restless energy that propels the listener forward. Strings, keyboards and array of instruments add depth and character, and Grenell’s voice soars above it all – comforting at times, melancholy at others. It has been noted that the cinematic beauty of By Limbo Lake might be reminiscent of what a modern day Triffids album might sound like circa 2010.

“Thematically, the songs are about being lost, self reflection and striving,” he says, “which is fitting. It did feel like we put ourselves in limbo while we wrote and recorded the album.”

With By Limbo Lake finally ready for unveiling, the Seabellies are about to embark on a year of solid touring as a way of reintroducing themselves to Australian music lovers. Grenell hopes that audiences will be pleasantly surprised by the leaps the band has taken – and that they’ll forgive the Seabellies for taking so long to arrive at this point.