Out Now
Words by Mark Polst
Private Function have returned with ¯(ツ)/¯, and it’s a full-blown, 19-track punk orgy of chaos, swearing, and sounds that’ll rattle your teeth loose like a dodgy Tradie on a ladder after six tins. It’s not just an album, it’s an audio punch-on behind Centrelink.
Forget structure, forget rules, this is PF at their most unhinged. And it bloody works. Punk, synth, sea shanty-core, public urination-core.. whatever, it’s all here. And yes, they’re taking this psychotic circus on tour in June, so cancel your wedding or your Nana’s funeral – priorities!
Let’s break down five prime bangers that perfectly sum up this glorious bin fire:
GAMMA RAY
A blistering, punk-meets-Mad Max explosion. Sounds like someone wired a microwave to a guitar and screamed into it. Fast, loud, and full of the kind of energy you usually only find in angry magpies.
DUMPSTER DIVING SCRAP SLUT
A grotty synth-drenched banger that’s either about foraging for treasure or society’s rapid decline. Maybe both. Catchy as syphilis and twice as hard to shake.
ECHUCA
Half love letter, half restraining order to regional Australia. Country charm meets punk venom. You can feel the sunburn and smell the river meth.
AEIOU
The alphabet, but make it feral. It’s a track that starts stupid and somehow gets dumber in the best possible way. You’ll be chanting vowels like you’re in a cult that worships beer.
FUCK ME DEAD
This one’s an anthem. Starts like a drunken sea shanty, ends like a fight in a Kmart carpark. Deeply Australian. Deeply unwell.
The rest of the album lurches between classics-in-waiting like Sucked In Fuckhead, the synth-laced Safety Last, and even a bizarrely emotional moment in Ready To Be Rich – which still manages to feel like someone yelling their tax return at you in a Bunnings.
¯(ツ)/¯ is stupid, brilliant, loud, and absolutely essential. Get the record. See the tour. Blow out your eardrums like a true Aussie hero.
