CLUNK Recommends | dust - New High

Cyrus Larcombe Moore

Cyrus is a poet and journalist with Essential Tremor from Devon. He’s now based in Belfast studying MA Poetry at Queens University Belfast.

Alongside their support slot with Interpol, Australia post-punk band dust have dropped their new single ‘New High’

Sit up and pay attention: Australia’s post-punk outfit dust have dropped a new single, ‘New High‘. This is a genre-fluid, jazzy, and pop-inflected post-punk gem. Their debut EP, ‘et cetera, etc‘, was an exciting diamond in the rough, and now, with this single’s precision, the stone’s been cut. It seems dust are finding their voice.

Formed in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, founding members Gabriel Stove and Justin Teale, along with bassist Liam Smith, multi-instrumentalist Adam Ridgway, and drummer Kye Cherry, have developed a sound that, to me, feels irresistibly Australian. While the band cite Yung Lean, King Krule, and Beach House as influences, the single’s sound I find nostalgic, echoing the Aussie alt-rock of the 2010s.

Although the band is from Newcastle, and this sound is typically associated more with Brisbane and heavier bands like Violent Soho, DZ Deathrays, and Dune Rats, I can still hear it in their music. It might not be something they’ve mentioned in interviews, as they usually point to the wider post-punk of recent years as their influence, but this single seems haunted by that music. It’s a progression of that earlier Aussie sound, as dust bring greater complexity and subtlety to Australia’s millennial rock legacy.

‘New High‘ opens with Kye Cherry’s shimmering cymbals and a dance-punk bassline (originally a demo from Justin Teale around which the song was written) performed by Liam Smith, before Adam Ridgway’s rhythmic saxophone emphasises the groove. The track is as entertaining as it’s melancholic. The vocals, subtle yet full of emotion, carry an understated urgency that plays with the shifting energy of the song. Teale’s vocals drift effortlessly between restraint and intensity, amplifying the track’s blend of introspection and drive.

Now touring with Interpol across the UK and Europe, their reputation continues to grow as one of Australia’s most exciting post-punk offerings. ‘New High‘ is at once nostalgic and contemporary, fun and confrontational.

Watch/Listen to ‘New High’ here: