CIVIC – an origin story since time immemorial, the five-piece came together in 2018 through the traps of the Melbourne music scene. Bonding over a shared love of tightly coiled riffs and a collective musical ethos, they channeled this into their first EP New Vietnam. In a head rush recording session, the 7 tracks were slammed out in a single day, with the underground hit going on to sell out of several pressings worldwide. Making a name for themselves through the intensity of their live shows, their  New Vietnam launch would become one of those folklore moments within Melbourne.

Taking to the stage with a contoured cheek and darkened eyes, McCullough’s glamoured stage presence beamed and boomed over the sold-out crowd. Cutting through the scene with cult-like vigor, their garnered momentum would lead them to a string of sold-out 7 inches, a European tour, a spot on the beloved Golden Plains Festival, a newfound home on the revered Flightless Records, and a fan in punk icon Henry Rollins, “I am digging that band… not one bad track in their recorded catalog”.

With momentum in the tank, they took to various locations across Victoria to get the beds of Future Forecast down. From Richmond’s historic Bakehouse Studios in all its grandeur to DIY run storage shed on High St, there’s a consideration for the new and old on this album. Paying homage to the classics, but pivoting on them with an avant-charged edge. It’s raw, searing guitars; pummeling rhythms; driving bass; with vocals that lock into and synergise with their wall of sound. Balanced by the raucous and restrained weaving of melodies and textures, the imbued sense of nostalgia, and the vocal variation which broadens their sound past any one genre label. There’s the horn fuelled drive of album opener ‘Radiant Eye’, the power-pop ladden hook of “As Seen On Tv”, the emotively atmospheric and vocally subdued “Sunday Best”, culminating with closer “Come To Know”, before ending in a tightly wound splay of feedback and groove.