July 27, 2026 by A.S. Van Dorston

Sydney band’s third full length could be highlight of the summer.

At the beginning of the decade I got excited about a group of women lead bands loosely tied together with common elements of gauzy psychedelic post-punk, dream pop and trip hop, once described by Peluché as trip jam, writing their music by jamming a garden she-shed. At the time there were a lot of great releases from Warpaint, Groupie, Fassine, Goat Girl, Mere Women, and two very promising EPs from Sydney, Australia’s Body Type. Since then, Body Type have by far been the most productive, releasing three full lengths since 2022, including their latest.

Every project ebbs and flows with different vibes. After the scrappy, melodic first self-titled EP (2018), the second was more subdued, with their debut full length Everything is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising (2022) attacking with more rockin’ angular post-punk. Expired Candy (2023) blew me away with their ecstatic, hooky, melodic pop that was the jam of the summer for me. I’m still incredulous that it wasn’t huge, but the normies were apparently waiting for their BRAT summer the next year.

In anticipation for the new one, I confirmed that Expired Candy holds up as one of the best albums of the decade so far. Tally only lags behind slightly, coming off as a more mellow, introspective experience. Three songs and over ten minutes shorter than the last album, it’s over before I’m ready for it, but does reward immediate re-listens, except for maybe the title track. Produced by Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint), the band has evolved their sound from bright shimmer and jangle to a more nuanced, textured and diverse sound. It kicks off with the delightful “And What Else?” with girl-group harmonies. First single “Sick Bag” is a standout with clever symbolism and use of Mellotron. “Mulberry” continues the previous album’s transportive, dreamy beauty and is another candidate for best track. “Eye is a Mouth is a Face” features intertwining and overlapping vocals that bring to mind The Raincoats, the first with writing contributions from everyone in the band, and is as great as anything from The Au Pairs or Sleater-Kinney. “Planet 8” hearkens back to their punkier earlier work, and while the second half has no filler, it doesn’t quite match the brilliance of the first, with the possible exception of the emotionally moving and vulnerable closer “Everything All in a Row.”

So far reactions are extremely positive, calling this their best album yet. I may not quite agree, but I’m chuffed that potential new fans will hear it, crave more and be amazed at what they’ve been missing for the past half decade. They absolutely deserve at LEAST as much attention and acclaim as Wet Leg and Horsegirl, and hopefully they will be inspired to come play in North America. Maybe bring along someone like fellow Sydney band Mere Women.

Body Type – Expired Candy (Poison City)

Body Type – Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising (Poison City, 2022)

Body Type from Sydney, Australia may just be releasing their debut album now, but they’ve been active for six years, releasing two enticing EPs in 2018 and 19, and the single “Night Gratitude” in 2020. This is certainly the case of a pandemic related delay, as the band already has a second album’s worth of material written. Their sound has already evolved since that first EP, leaving behind the dreamy Warpaint inspired trip jammin’ mix of jangle pop, garage and post-punk into harder rocking material that makes good use of the twin guitar duo of Sophie McComish and Annabel Blackman. In the face of misogynist presumptions about their musicianship, they came up with the “wankiest, shreddiest” guitar solo in first single “The Charm.” Rather than a pisstake on cock rock though, it sounds like a really excellent tribute to the best guitar leads from Sleater-Kinney and undersung virtuoso Mary Timony (Autoclave, Helium, Wild Flag, Ex Hex). The driving “The Brood” is even better, and the side two run of “Flight Path,” “Buoyancy” and “Sex and Rage” keep the punk-infused energy level high. They haven’t totally abandoned their more delicate early style, however, as there’s plenty of slow-burners, such as “Futurism,” “An Animal” and the title track that inhabit a similar sonic and emotional space as some of the Wet Leg album. It makes me wonder if that band weren’t paying keen attention to Body Type’s early work, or perhaps all these bands are drawing inspiration from the same deep wells of feminist post-punk and guitar pop, and coming up with their own unique stamp. The more the merrier, as every note sounds like an antidote to both the dumpster fires of reality, and popular culture.