Part Of The Problem, Baby: Eco Mix Coloured Vinyl LP

Pre-Order Item. Release Date Subject to Change.
Label: Specialist Subject
Release Date: 1st August

Love it when a band straddles the line between being a pop punk band and a sweet indie pop band and are the best of both.

Second album from North East indie rockers Fortitude Valley!

“We’re still very much the same band,” says Fortitude Valley’s Laura Kovic, describing the band’s triumphant return with second album Part Of The Problem, Baby. “But the dials have all just been turned up a bit.”

That much is immediately apparent from the off - whereas 2021’s self-titled debut was a breezily charming coalescence of effortless pop hooks and indie-punk energy, this new effort announces itself with guts and a road-earned sense of self-confidence. It’s the sound of a band growing into itself; with a smartly effervescent approach to songwriting and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of swoon-inducing indiepop hooks.

Over the course of Part Of The Problem, Baby’s ten glorious offerings, we get treated to a miscellany of pop cultural sources of inspiration as a means of tackling themes like distance, personal growth and self-determination. For Kovic, an Australian-born musician living in the UK for almost two decades, the first of those is clearly a big one.

“When I was a teenager I couldn’t wait to get away,” she explains, referencing her upbringing in Brisbane, “and now I can’t wait to go back each time. My life is now just repeatedly visiting and then feeling sad when I leave, but knowing in my heart that I am where I’m supposed to be.”

Louder, wiser, in tune with each other and their identity as a collective… Fortitude Valley may well remain the same band, but Part Of The Problem, Baby is a step forward on every level.

Tracklisting:
1. Everything Everywhere
2. Totally
3. Video (Right There With You)
4. Red Sky
5. Sunshine State
6. Don't You Wanna Be Near Me?
7. Part Of The Problem, Baby
8. Take Me Away, I'm Dreaming
9. Into The Wild
10. Oceans Apart