Rush to Relax

Back home in Australia, Eddy Current Suppression Ring have been hailed as the lackadaisical leaders of Melbourne’s recent garage- rock uprising. That sounds about right, given the way the group’s turned the act of not trying too hard into a veritable art form. Case in point: their third LP, a prickly/perplexing listen that starts with a teeth-gnashing jam (“Anxiety”) and ends with nearly 20 minutes of cackling seagulls and softly breached shores (the pure moods portion of the title track). In other words, it’s a literal translation of the album title Rush to Relax, a balancing act between sucker- punch songs (“Walked Into a Corner,” "Isn't It Nice") and the sensitive side of chord-chopping confessionals like “Gentleman” and “I Can Be a Jerk.” And then there are the two cuts that truly sound like curveballs: the smothered rhythm section and dog-detonating guitar solo of “Tuning Out” and the locked, drone-on groove of “Second Guessing.” Considering the entire thing was recorded in a day — six hours, to be exact — it’s as if the band is hell bent on reminding us that they can do more in an afternoon than most acts would in a week.