I realised that I didn’t actually know what folk-grunge meant before I listened to this album.
I dismissed the genre as a way to lump together any alt-guitar band that features a violin, but Daisypicker make it click. On their debut album Mess Around, the Naarm- based band combine raw grit with softness and intimacy. Perhaps too abrasive for folk but too delicate for grunge, Daisypicker combine the best of each, letting such contradictory elements sharpen each other rather than cancel each other out.
Daisypicker’s bowed instrument of choice is actually the viola, the violin’s bigger, cooler and more down-to-earth sibling. It twists around both the guitar line and the vocal melody, a feature of the rich instrumentation that underpins each track. ‘Cocoon’, in particular, envelops the listener like a weighted blanket, the addition of a saxophone providing extra warmth and comfort.
There are moments of stark contrast between sweet, dreamlike instrumentation and biting, confessional lyrics. Viscerally earnest and introspective, Daisypicker’s ability to let tenderness exist inside rage is what makes Mess Around so compelling. They are allowed to coexist uneasily, in tense equilibrium. As if the band spilled their guts onto a platter, carefully arranged them and then presented it to me.
Words by Hannah Rose