Peter Bibby

Australian singer-songwriter, Peter Bibby’s brand new album ‘Drama King’ is dropping on 31st May via Spinning Top Music. This will be his fourth record. It’s been four years since his last explicit offering with ‘Marge’, and almost a decade since his first studio release in 2014.

Proudly profane, Bibby’s labours his existence using his natural storytelling talents. He is every bit as raw and brutally honest as Shane MacGowan, sharing the same savagery in delivering truthful ‘everyman’ realism to his audience.

Bibby starts off ‘Drama King’ with his country drawl, rock’n’roll rhythms, guitar solos and an array of country, folk, punk and rock influences. Channelling fellow troubadours Bob Dylan and Joe Strummer on folksy and punk-infused opening track ‘The Arsehole’. His acerbic humour is “plain to see” along with his blunt attitude. Untamed and anarchic, ‘Fun Guy’ is one of his punkier, angrier and borderline demonic tracks on the record. As Bibby growls diabolically, we get a dark insight on his life before his sobriety.

‘Bin Boy’ is an ode to feeling like a waste of space, as he compares himself a wheelie bin! Bibby is a suburban straight-talker that we can relate to. He shares his tragic commentary and spares no details. Bibby emotes as best he can with a roaring guitar in hand. The next track builds up a sense of urgency, as Bibby sounds pained and full of self-loathing when talking about ‘The One’.

Bringing the band into more lighter and brighter territory, ‘Bruno’ reminds us of The Shins, with keys, drums and airy backing vocal arrangements cutting into Bibby’s brash vocals. ‘Baby Squid’ is an electrifying descent into madness taken from the Pixies-esqe ‘quiet-loud’ playbook. Devastatingly poetic ‘Terracotta Brick’, Bibby pulls at our heart-strings by romanticising about laying bricks, morning tinnies and a dirty dog that bit him. Continuing to exude authenticity, his vocals crack at the line “unforgiving prick” and ‘Turtle in the Sand’ hears him struggle to sing about crippling heartbreak and anguish. Coupled with crashing cymbals, Bibby is drowning in emotions through waves of sound.

‘Feels’ is a dizzying punk rock anthem mangled with heavily discordant guitar. Bibby finds himself at his most delirious and raucous. ‘The Pricks’ is tuned to the same frequency as The Strokes. You can hear some of their hallmarks – precise guitar skills and new wave sensibilities – only it’s not as clean and polished but nothing by Bibby is. Penultimate track, ‘Old DC’ is a bittersweet country ballad with plenty of twang! Bibby ends the album with a story about a horse on ‘Companion Pony’ and, with the help of backing singers, advices it (and us) to “keep on running”.

'Drama King' was emotional, wild and rough around the edges just like Peter Bibby himself. We recommend you give it a try.

Tracklist:

1. The Arsehole
2. Fun Guy
3. Bin Boy
4. The One
5. Bruno
6. Baby Squid
7. Terracotta Brick
8. Turtle in the Sand
9. Feels
10. The Pricks
11. Old DC
12. Companion Pony