Dark Horses, the title of The Getaway Plan's new album, probably says more about the band's general psyche than its position in Australian post-hardcore scene.
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Since forming in 2004, the Melbourne band has topped the Australian Independent Album charts, attracted rave critical reviews and made a sizeable dent in the international market. Regardless, the band sees itself as a dark horse in every sense.
"A dark horse is basically something or someone that unexpectedly comes out of nowhere and succeeds at something," vocalist/guitarist Matthew Wright says. "At this point we see ourselves as dark horses, as ambitious as that is, and we see this record as our dark horse in many ways."
It's true that The Getaway Plan have overcome significant obstacles to get to this point. This includes weathering a two-year break up, member departures, various personal obstacles (including Wright's well-documented battle with depression) and almost five years between records (their last album, Requiem, was released in 2011).
"It's just that we've been off the scene for so long," Wright says. "We came back and released a record and we didn't really tour much. We did one tour off the back of Requiem and did a few support slots here and there and then focused on overseas. So yeah, I don't think too many people are expecting too much from us at this point."
As with the band's previous releases, the lyrics on Dark Horses deal with issues of love, loss and depression. However, ultimately the album offers the listener something positive with Wright presenting his personal struggles so that others might take inspiration.
"I think all of my songs are kind of like a beacon of hope for myself, like I'm trying to - without even knowing it sometimes too, it's kind of like a subconscious thing - reach out to myself and offer myself help through my own lyrics."
Musically, the band continues to expand on the template set by their wildly successful 2008 debut Other Voices, Other Rooms. Take, for example, the eight-minute album centrepiece, Dreamer Parallel. It's an enormously ambitious track, morphing from moody post rock (Dreamer) to dark hip-hop (Parallels). The track features guest vocals from Melbourne artist Freeds.
"The second half of that track came about by accident when we were playing in the studio recording live," Wright says. "I f...ed up at the end of the song and played a funky jazz chord. The guys joined in and we were screwing around for a bit and we kept going with it for four or five minutes. We listened back to the take later and realised it was f...ing awesome and that we wanted to put it on the record. That's a completely live take."
With its intricate songwriting and remarkable melodies, Dark Horses may very well be the album that lifts The Getaway Plan out of the mid-tier Australian alternative rock scene and plants them firmly in the mainstream consciousness.
"I definitely feel like all of us as musicians are coming into ourselves," Wright says. "I think in many ways it feels like the last 10 years have been building up to this release. We feel like we are the band that we've always wanted to be, finally."
THE GETAWAY PLAN
When: September 12, 8pm
Where: Transit Bar, Civic
Tickets: $20 + plus BF from moshtix.com.au. 18+
