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Arbes long-awaited debut album Counterways, exists on the cusp between ethereal and the more attention-seeking concerns of pop. The record invites listeners into an unusual sonic world of atmospheric depth. Comparisons can be drawn to New York post-punk of a more colourful bent, running from Blondie all the way through to Gang Gang Dance. The dream pop of Scotland’s Cocteau Twins has always been apparent, while the album’s gritty art rock juxtaposed by ambience brings to mind Deerhunter. Glimmering flashes of psychedelia lend from the likes of Melody’s Echo Chamber.
The ten track album explores romantic dreaming and the struggle to (not) understand and to be understood. It memorialises glimmers of connection, discontentment and longing. Zanoni explains; “Counterways reflects the multiplicity of emotional memory. It’s both confession, and a fear of this confession. Desire is the throughline across the record, manifesting in many conflicting selves”.
Front woman Jess Zanoni’s soulful, oracular voice is anchored by the earthbound brambles of prickly guitar and brushstroke percussion, where all is tethered to a surface of unearthly detail and resonances. Some of these details may be illusory: there is a lot of gorgeous trailing silence between notes and sounds on Counterways, and the lyrics tread softly and widely. It’s spacious. Zanoni says; “I self-recorded all vocals which I hadn’t previously done for an Arbes release. This was a massively insightful, immersive (and solitary) time for me. I was totally committed to every detail, guided by a strong sense of how I wanted everything to feel and sound.”
Arbes made a conscious decision to avoid any chance of a passive listening experience, striving towards creating “foreground music”, which they describe as “forward looking”. Arbes eke out every possible ounce of emotionality from their songs. Not to sedate, but to guide listeners somewhere unexpected, at the song or album's conclusion.
Counterways was written and recorded over a five year period (2017-2022), between the former bedroom-studio of guitarist, Sam Pannifex’s family home in Williamstown (a suburb in the inner west of Melbourne, where Arbes all grew up), and the band’s present shared studio in Coburg North. The songs went through multiple evolutions throughout the years, as they were thoughtfully and patiently pieced together. Pannifex explains; “Due to various constraints, I knew we’d have to record all of the parts for the record, piece by piece. I thought we should use this limitation to our advantage and sculpt, polish, and finesse each element with intention, to hopefully create a compelling whole (album).” Melbourne producer Theo Carbo was brought onboard to mix the record and his unique ideas, production techniques and magic complimented Arbes’ overall vision for the album perfectly.
Counterways is a gentle warmth rubbing against the frisson of something verging punk, in the exploratory and not commodified sense. The mythical and the urban converge: dense, ghostly reverberation meets the functional whirring of a city. But most prominent is the sense of something blissfully airborne tugged gently to the earth; that is Arbes’ own region.
