The Bamboos ‘Hard Up’ Is Right On

The Bamboos just released their tenth studio album after more than than twenty years performing together.  This Australian group have refined their craft of finding the sweetest spot between soul and funk to the finest point yet.  Hard Up reinvigorate a classic sound, seamlessly  incorporating contemporary influences to create something altogether brand new.

Much of the album was recorded communally over a week just prior to the pandemic at a sprawling country house just outside the (coincidentally named) town of Lancefield, north of Melbourne. The approach of making an album outside the recording studio, steeped in such legendary tales as the ‘Stones at Villa Nellcôte or Radiohead’s ‘O.K Computer’ St Catherine’s Court sessions has made it the groups most collaborative yet, solidifying even more their seemingly telepathic musical interplay.

“We had always talked about getting out of town and locking ourselves up in an old house somewhere to make a record” explains Ferguson. “And it just seemed to be the right time to do it. Something different happens musically when everyone is together in the same place and in no hurry to go anywhere else…there’s a real focus. We were recording takes at 3am in the morning, experimenting with whole different approaches to songs, the horn section took over an empty barn to come up with their parts…all of the things you can imagine”.

Check out the track-by-track coverage —