Post Description

Artist: Sticky Fingers

Album: Caress Your Soul

Released: 2013

Style: Indie Rock

Tracklist:
01 - How to fly
02 - Clouds + cream
03 - Australia street
04 - These girls
05 - Sex
06 - Bootleg rascal
07 - Caress your soul
08 - Laika
09 - Freddy crabs
10 - Kiss the breeze
11 - Let it all out

When Sticky Fingers' debut EP Happy Endings came out last year, I was pretty quick to slag it off - my exact words at the time were "the six songs drift into each other too easily, without any real discernible difference or stand-out effort". With that it mind, it's a proper pleasure to see the giant strides forward the Sydney quartet have taken with this debut long-player.

With an ever-growing reputation as a seriously hard-working touring band, and a couple of singles getting heavy radio rotation (including the ubiquitous title track), Sticky Fingers have had a pretty massive year, and the quality of this album is proof of all their hard work paying off. The appeal of their live show is evident in the danceable nature of a lot of their songs, rooted in reggae rhythms with plenty of rock and psych influences peppered throughout, and in the 'gang' mentality the band seem to possess - a powerful force for a "work hard, play hard" band like Sticky Fingers.

Opener 'How To Fly' is a laid-back slice of reggae-fied pop; all cool bass groove and smooth vocals from frontman Dylan Frost (with a poetic name like that, how could he fail to produce quality lyrics?), and single 'Australia Street' follows in a similar vein. There are plenty of innuendo-filled lines throughout tracks like 'Sex', 'These Girls', and 'Freddy Crabs', indicating the good times the band make it their to mission to enjoy.

Of course, most people will know Sticky Fingers for the excellent single 'Caress Your Soul'; it having deservedly landed number 61 in the Hottest 100. It's one of those great songs that crosses genres, styles, and boundaries, and is enjoyed by fans of many different types of music - which is also a large part of the band's overall appeal. Caress Your Soul is a fine album. Well played, lads.