Following on from the release of the Yes We Do 7”, Delivery are back with ‘Personal Effects/The Topic’, a double single release that continues to expand on the group’s razor-sharp blend of garage, post-punk and new-wave pop.

While the four tracks on Yes We Do were developed around the sound of the project’s initial home demos, ‘Personal Effects/The Topic’ capture the five-piece working in full collaboration for the first time. Across these tracks, programmed beats and synths make way for heaving live drums, relentless guitar interplay and left-of-centre saxophone bursts, while the band’s triune vocals (split between Rebecca Allan, Lisa Rashleigh and James Lynch) are more dynamic and incisive than ever.

Our take: Feel It Records brings us the second 7” from this new-ish band from the contemporary punk hotbed of Melbourne, Australia. According to the info I read online, Personal Effects differs from Delivery’s previous releases. Those were home recorded and leaned into that medium’s potential for idiosyncrasy and eclecticism, while these two tracks have a more polished recording that reflects the band’s well-developed live sound. Since Personal Effects is the first Delivery record I’ve heard, I can’t comment too much about that, but I love what I hear here. Delivery sounds fully developed, with a powerful, punk-informed rhythm section and memorably askew horn arrangements. There are pop songs at the core, though, and both sides of Personal Effects deliver. “Personal Effects” is ambling and mid-paced, the wheezing horn line complementing the broad vocal hook in the chorus. “The Topic” is even better to my ears, the horns even more left of center in a Cravats kind of way, a catchy song barging its way through those weird horns and the stumbling rhythm. Delivery’s way of combining left of center sounds with big hooks reminds me of UV Race, another Aussie fave. Here’s hoping Delivery keeps ‘em coming.