The Burbs, those grunge-pop rebels from Down Under, aren’t here to play nice with your emotions. They’re gonna rip ’em wide open. Fresh off their raw demo “Sunlight Spills Across The Swimming Pool”, this Bells Beach trio is back with a vengeance. Their new track “There’s No Time For Presents” dropped May 8th on Sing Sing Studios, and holy hell, it’s a doozy.
Brook McKeon’s voice could wake the dead. One minute she’s whispering secrets, the next she’s screaming bloody murder. The band’s trademark grungy growl backs her up – guitars that sound like they’re chewing through barbed wire, drums and bass brewing up a storm. It all builds from this creepy crawl into a chorus that’ll knock you flat on your ass. The real mad scientist here is producer Aaron Dobos. This dude actually used the sound of a knife slicing paper as part of the beat. It’s messed up, but brilliant – guaranteed to make your skin crawl.
Lyric-wise, The Burbs don’t flinch – “What a nice weight to get off your chest / All it took was a pocketknife and a press.” We’re talking gut-punch poetry about screwing up, letting people down, and feeling utterly powerless. It’s dark stuff, but there’s something weirdly beautiful about how it just stares right into the worst parts of being human.
Following radio smashes Ladder To The Moon and Skin and Bones, “There’s No Time For Presents” proves The Burbs is Australia’s answer to ’90s alt-rock glory—Hole’s raw nerve meets Nirvana’s melodic grit, but with a modern pop-hook edge sharp enough to draw blood. The track doesn’t just go hard—it lives hard, thrashing between melancholy and fury like a caged animal.
If their debut album was a dive into sunlit pools, this single is the midnight plunge into icy depths. Blast this song until your neighbours hate you. Let it drown out all the crap in your life. Or better yet, embrace the madness and start a mosh pit in your living room.
“There’s No Time For Presents” is out now. Stream it, scream it, repeat. The Burbs aren’t only a band—they’re a damn reckoning. Miss them at your peril.