Party Dozen, consisting of saxophonist Kirsty Tickle and percussionist Jonathan Boulet, released their fourth album, Crime In Australia late last year. The album was a highly anticipated follow-up to their international breakthrough, The Real Work (2022). That album included many new developments in the band’s evolution that earned them significant praise – most notably the Nick-Cave-featured 'Macca The Mutt', the surprisingly radio-friendly skronk of 'Fruits Of Labour', and the epic string-drenched beauty of 'Risky Behaviour'.
As with its predecessor, Crime In Australia was written, recorded, produced and mixed by the duo themselves in their studio in Marrickville, Sydney. This time, the location was more of an influence than on previous occasions, as Boulet explains:
“Marrickville in the 1960s-'70s was a notorious crime hot spot. If a car was stolen, or someone was missing, they’d look for them in Marrickville. Since then, the area has been highly gentrified and slowly the once grimy industrial warehouse lined streets are being swapped for monstrous apartment blocks with palm trees. We began without any theme in mind, just the beginnings of some song ideas. As we were discovering the songs for this album, each song felt more and more at home in an old cop tv series soundtrack. The Crime theme quickly became apparent. The record feels split into two contrasting sides: The first half is ‘order’, being as listenable as Party Dozen has ever been. Each song is law abiding and dignified in its own place. The second half is ‘disorder,’ becoming more unlawful, unhinged, louder and noisier.”
While plenty of people all over the world have found Party Dozen to be perfectly listenable, even at their loudest and wildest, the first side does feature some of their least abrasive moments to date. Certainly, album opener 'Coup De Gronk' – described by the band as both “as catchy and danceable as we’ve ever been” and “one of Jono’s many dumb ideas” – is a lower barrier-to-entry than what introduced any of their first three albums.
Across its ten tracks, Crime In Australia showcased a group absolutely unafraid to explore their “many dumb ideas” and as a result going places that are thrilling, visceral, face-melting, surprisingly danceable, and frequently ridiculous (often all at the same time).
Party Dozen stop by PBS for an exclusive Studio 5 Live performance on Fang It! with Ruari. Tune in to hear the duo's intimate set from 5pm on Thursday February 20.
