The Blood Pressure Sessions

VINYL FORMAT. Lucy Phelan and M.P. Hopkins hail from Sydney, Australia. Behind a basic framework of keyboard, bass, and vocals (and all manner of tinkered-with percussion) Naked on the Vague's distinct aggregate of sound calls to mind everything from SPK to Mars and beyond. Or, as they're fond of calling them in Philly, "the Death Star version of Times New Viking."

Originally released in 2007 on CD by the fearless Australian Dual Plover label, The Blood Pressure Sessions ventures into a darker realm than their debut 7-inch (also on Dual Plover) had erroneously suggested. Propelled by the sharp, rhythmic snare drum beat and anchored by thunderous, fuzzed bass-lines and stinging, swinging organ and synth fills, Phelan and Hopkins take turns rounding out the vocal duties, giving the whole of their sound a sonorous curtain of ecstatic foreboding. Betraying a gallows wit, the band refers to their music as "apocalyptic pop," which could be construed as both drowning and waving.