Fingerless – Sounds of Oz

Meeanjin/Brisbane trio Fingerless have just dropped their epic new rock track “Yes Today.” This song has been a staple of the band’s live set for years, and now we finally get the chance to hear it in all its glory. Fingerless fans will notice it’s a little more mellow than the way the band play it on stage, but this take actually strikes the balance between the live version and the original home-recorded demo.

“The song is about being in emotional turmoil,” says Marc Cheeseman, the band’s lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. “Going through something, but finding it really difficult to put that into words, to actually tell someone. “This line from Bram Stoker’s Dracula kept coming back to me while writing it – something about a ‘painted ship in a painted ocean’, it just fit so well and I felt that it summed up the feeling I was trying to put into the song.”

“Yes Today” is a classic psychedelic-inspired rocker that refuses to conform to modern standards. It’s been far too long since I’ve heard a rock track that runs longer than six minutes and has a killer guitar solo. I’m here for it.

Photo credit: Johnny Pickvance

The press release for Fingerless’ new single “More to Come” describes the Meeajin/Brisbane act as a psych-folk-indie-rock group. It’s one of the more eclectic band descriptions I’ve read, but listening to this song it all makes perfect sense. It somehow reminds me of The Beatles, Suede, Pulp, and Powderfinger all at once. Playing with so many genres could get messy for a lesser act, but this song somehow works. It’s a love song with a difference, which rather than celebrating a relationship that will last a lifetime acknowledges uncertainty and that there is “more to come.”

The band recorded this single, and a few other tracks, at Black Box recording studio, where they worked with producer and recording/mixing engineer Jeff Lovejoy (resin Dogs, Sahara Beck) for the first time.

“We recorded these songs live, with vocal, percussion and acoustic guitar overdubs added later,” said Marc Cheeseman, Fingerless’ vocalist and guitarist. “We prefer to do it this way because that’s how we write the songs. It feels better, it’s more fun and it just makes sense. One really cool thing that happened during recording was getting to use the same 1950s mic stand that was used in the Baz Luhrmann Elvis film. Jeff worked on the film as a music equipment consultant and had some of the gear from the film at his studio while we were recording. So all the vocals from this single were done using that mic stand!”

Fingerless will launch the single for hometown fans at The Cave Inn on March 10.

Image used with permission from 4000 Records; credit: Jonny Pickvance

Tag: Fingerless

Fingerless Release Live Favourite, “Yes Today”

Fingerless Drops Trippy New Track, “More to Come”