Ghost Mutt - Años Migraños

Annie Bingley - the singer-songwriter-producer behind Meanjin/Brisbane psych-pop band Ghost Mutt - christened her second LP with a descriptor of the time when it was written: Años Migraños, or The Migraine Years. Pandemic restrictions financially jeopardised the bar she owned with her partner; she picked up some nursing work to make ends meet, and ignored her own body’s needs until she was physically knocked out by debilitating headaches.

The body of work - a bolder successor to 2023’s Perro Fantasma - is a maximalist triumph, vivid in the joy that comes from bidding toxicity farewell. “Can you see the light?”  A bed of saccharine harmonies on opening track “La Luz” heralds a new beginning born in the closing of a chapter.

The confidence that comes with increased self-worth, and assurance in the word “No” permeates the album’s ten tracks. Both “Hot Fudge Sundae” and “Stud Puppy” see Bingley direct barbed arrows to the people who attempt to take her down - on the former, her lyrics become a mantra for survival, floating over the jangle of psychedelic guitar melodies; the latter is a Strokes-y kissoff with the easy swagger of Wet Leg.

Quotidian wins and failures are transformed into perceptive, relatable appraisals of what it means to be human: after burning a batch of celebratory pizza scrolls on “Baby Shower”, Bingley is “Desperate for all to see / This doesn’t represent me”. And on “Marrow”, the financial stress of running a business is “Scraping the barrel / Going to battle” against imagined figures on the doorstep and overdrawn bank accounts.

Co-produced with a cast of local heroes- the band were fastidious in perfecting the tones and textures of the record’s lush sonic landscape - hot in some places, foggy in others, metallic cool and sandpaper gritty. Across Años Migraños’ production and the lyrics, one thing is certain: it takes a village to raise a band, and many hands make life worth it.

Release Date: TBA