The Seabellies

Wave Your Fingers to Make the Winters

The Seabellies were formed in Newcastle in late 2006. The line-up has included Eddie Garven on bass guitar; Kyle Grenell on guitars, percussion, drums, bass guitar, accordion and keyboards; his brother, Trent Grenell on lead vocals, guitar, percussion, keyboards, bass guitar and sequencer; Sean Kelleher on drums, horns, backing vocals, percussion and melodica; Antony Martin on keyboards, bass guitar, horns, percussion, and backing vocals; and Stephanie Setz on melodica, metalaphone, viola, saxophone, keyboards, bass guitar, percussion, sequencer and backing vocals.

In March 2007 the Seabellies self-released a six-track extended play, Wave Your Fingers to Make the Winters. Sputnikmusic's Apocalyptic Raids rated it at three-and-a-half out of five and explained that the group "plays a dreamy and spacious brand of music not unlike The Arcade Fire or Mew. They also make use of a wide variety of instruments such as metallophones, melodicas and keyboards to accompany the standard set of guitar, bass and drums... Each of the six songs on this record contains the same whimsical, dreamy and sometimes intense atmosphere throughout, and at times it makes the EP seem like it drags on longer than it should."

That year they won the Garage to V Competition, and appeared on the main stage at the Sydney and Gold Coast V Festival. They were featured as a Next Crop Artist on Triple J, and won the Music Artist of the Year Award from 1233 ABC Newcastle.

Digital singles

In 2008 the Seabellies signed to ABC/Warner and Universal to distribute a set of digital singles. The first, "Heart Heart Heart Out", was issued ahead of the group joining Australian tours by international artists including supporting an Icelandic group, múm, in March of that year. The band played at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City in October. While in the United States they played in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Hollywood, including the Viper Room. They were listed in QRO Magazine both as Best New Band and as one which Will Break.

In August they issued their second digital single, "Prarie", which Dom Alessio of Who the Hell described as "returning to their Canadian music influences, building a bombastic tune not alike that of Arcade Fire but compressing their multi-layered sound into more standard song structure fare. It's build nicely, there's plenty of textured harmonies, but at the time of writing this, the song hasn't grabbed me just yet – and I'm a fan of these guys. Maybe I just have to give it time."

"Feel It Leave", their third digital single was listed as one of the Best New Releases of the Week by Max Hammer of Indie Rock Cafe; he opined that "Their music is rich and lush, full of ethereal electronic sounds, strings, metalaphones and melodicas, soaring guitars and Scandinavian-influenced melodies."

By Limbo Lake

The group recorded their debut album, By Limbo Lake, in 2009 with Wayne Connolly producing at Albert Studios. The group signed to Albert Music, which released the album on 16 August 2010 with Sony Music distributing. To promote it they toured Australia before resettling in Melbourne in November for a residency at the Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy.

A reviewer for Beat Magazine observed that it "asserts itself as a memorable record abounding in beautifully explorative, textural pop... [which] heralds the exciting development and impressive progression of one of the country's finest young bands... [Trent's] lyrics do, at times, appear random and nondescript as they're primarily melody-driven rather than idea-laden, but it's the dreamy landscapes traversed that are most appealing."

TheMusic.com.au's Michael Smith asked Trent why they took so long to issue their debut album, he explained "we figured it might be better to develop a bit and just take our time." Smith felt that "thematically it might be an album about the tensions and struggles involved in its making, sonically the content couldn't be greater, as it washes over the listener with a subtle, sensual beauty of sound that sweeps you away. There's a brightness and almost celebratory quality to the music."

By Limbo Lake peaked at No. 7 on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums Chart by October 2010. Three tracks were placed on high rotation by national radio station, Triple J: "Orange X", "Young Cubs" and "Trans Ending". Trent was nominated in the Popular Contemporary category at the 2011 APRA Professional Development Awards.

Fever Belle

Fever Belle was recorded with producer Berkfinger in Sydney and Berlin in 2012 and released on 18 October 2013. The album received Indie album of the Week by Brag Magazine.

Albums

Extended plays

Singles