Body Maintenance – Far From Here

The Naarm (Melbourne) post-punks Body Maintenance return with their second full-length, Far From Here, refining the dark, captivating sound that first put them on the map. Following their self-titled 12-inch EP (2021) and 2023’s Beside You, the band now delivers eight tracks that balance melancholy, urgency, and a striking sense of atmosphere.

Drawing inspiration from The Chameleons, Echo & The Bunnymen, Sisters of Mercy, The Sound, and Blitz’s Second Empire Justice era, Body Maintenance channel the classic Manchester post-punk lineage and its evolution while also aligning with modern underground peers like Diät, Spectres, Belgrado, and A Culture of Killing. The result is a record that wears its influences proudly yet stands firmly on its own.

Far From Here, released by Drunken Sailor Records, who also brought us this spring’s electrified Australienation by fellow locals Punter, possibly represents the band’s most kaleidoscopic moment. With a total running time of 28 minutes, the album’s eight tracks possess an eclectic charm that’s simply irresistible. The mid-tempo “Days in Arcadia,” toward the album’s finale, stands out thanks to its dance of drums and synths, with a repetitive guitar lead giving it an exotic touch that ventures into new wave territories. Earlier, the electrified “Symphony of Bliss” defines the quintessence of Body Maintenance’s darkness: dance, sweat, the dizziness of the night, release. In short, it’s a great track with a strong chorus.

Far From Here, with its excellent cover art, admittedly sounds like an archetypal, old-fashioned post-punk album. It isn’t defined by innovation or novelty, yet despite its evident influences, it manages to radiate a distinct personality. It’s the voice that defines the despair of “The Face I Stood Behind,” whose drawn-out cries, together with crucial harmonies, make “The Boundaries” sound as if it comes straight from 1984 into today’s metropolises. Often romantic, essentially poetic, but never sterilely nostalgic, Body Maintenance’s new album is one that fully knows its audience.

Far From Here is one of the best and most essential albums one can hear in this subgenre today. The Australians follow a specific aesthetic tradition that dates back decades and infuse it with today’s anxious urban depression. Often, within monotony and repetition, a small, unexpected rustle is enough to bring total renewal. Body Maintenance will remain underground; they will continue to fill basements, and possibly, in the future, they may not stray far from their beaten path. It doesn’t matter. Until then, with albums such as Far From Here, which closes with the fiery outburst of “Golden Fire,” they will continue to magnetize and captivate all those who cross their path—precisely because their songwriting sounds unpretentious, spontaneous, and enchanting.

A Greek version of this review was published in Rocking.gr.