RVG: Brain Worms

“But there’s a lighthouse / At the end of the cove / And the light is saying / Honey, wherе you gonna go?” sings Romy Vager on It’s Not Easy – one of the many chapters of heart break and struggle in the story of RVG’s brilliant third album, Brain Worms.

Brought up on a diet of Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard and Beasts of Bourbon, RVG have spent three albums taking their audience on a wild ride of hairpin turns filled with high-wire drama. However, it hasn’t been through the same vein of their fellow antipodean heroes noted above. Instead, RVG take a slightly more user-friendly approach, echoing the jangle pop lustre of the Go-Betweens, and on Brain Worms Vager mirrors the pomp of Robert Forster and the emotional vigour of Chrissie Hynde. 

It makes Brain Worms a thrilling jaunt in what is one of the strongest Australian albums of the year, rubbing shoulders with Michael Plater’s Ghost Music and Martin Frawley’s The Wannabe, as the acts down under are currently producing the best output of new music in years.

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While RVG’s 2018 debut, A Quality of Mercy, possessed a Byrdsian jangle that was pleasant enough on the ear, the Melbourne band’s 2020 follow-up, Feral, upped the ante with delightful new dimensions of songcraft. Brain Worms builds on that momentum, with the large-hearted, punk-inspired songs spearheaded Vager’s heart-on-sleeve delivery. Backed by guitarist/ keyboardist Reuben Bloxham, bassist Isabele Wallace and drummer Marc Nolte who provide the blustery backdrops to match her fragile tales of loss, Vager’s lyrics are seemingly ripped straight from the diary and finessed with the kind of wordplay inspired by Zadie Smith.

Vager doesn’t masquerade her stories in metaphors, instead tackling her subjects with a naked intimacy that is bravely original. The kind open-hearted honesty we once associated with Mark Eitzel’s American Music Club. And it starts with the swirling Common Ground, resonating with a post-punk panache that reaches for the kind of euphoria captured by Suede’s Brett Anderson.

The fuzz pedal gut-punch of Midnight Sun continues the march, as Vager admits to, “Looking at my future / Through a past I’ll never have“. It’s one of the many poignant extracts laced all the way through Brain Worms. So too on It’s Not Easy, where Vager essentially rips off the band-aid (“It’s easier to get things over and done”) in what is a majestic blur akin to Died Pretty.

Then there’s the rambling roadhouse rock of Tambourine. A harrowing story of a COVID funeral via an internet video stream (“They’re playing Drops of Jupiter / Cos they never even knew ya” and “I don’t want see ya go/ Through a tab on Google Chrome”). It’s an agonising tale most of us have experienced throughout the last three years.

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Meanwhile, the title track sees Vager juxtaposing heartbreak with black comedy gold, (“I’m too old for shit / I used to be a journalist / Now I’m yelling at my therapist”). The synth-led lonely wander of You’re the Reason takes it down a notch, which gives us a chance to catch our breath, but not for long. Nolte’s cannon-like drums on Squid almost overshadowing Vager’s reach-for-the-stars chorus that fills every inch of the room.

It leads into the swarming swamp rock of Giant Snake. A twisted romp that sees Vager recounting a tale surrounding backpacker murderer, Ivan Milat (“Got Ivan Milat with a giant snake around his neck / Keeps saying I’m the weirdest shit / He’s ever seen”. A withering hell-scape no doubt, Giant Snake just about tops the lot, however the beautiful swoon rock of Tropic of Cancer runs it a close second, with chiming riffs and heart-melting melodies that caps off Brain Worms with the type of force all top drawer albums should contain.

The thing about Brain Worms is the glowing immediacy to these songs. RVG manage to orchestrate a series of sing-your-heart-out anthems that no one would have bargained for prior to this release. Not only is it another string to their bow, but it’s also their finest outing so far.

If the next chapter is anything as captivating as Brain Worms, then maybe it’s not the worst time to be alive.

Brain Worms is out now via Fire Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.