Photo by Rivals

The inner west’s Gravel Pit are giving us brazen, mangled and pulsating experimental punky electronica that might get ya thinking about doomed primates in space.

Sometimes, in the early stages of a new band, it’s the addition of one more element or member that just ties everything together. For Gravel Pit, after two years of manifesting their mutual love of 80s sci-fi, punk and electronica, it was vocals that fuelled the fire and saturated the new trio’s confidence.

Out of that late-2016 connection, Rivals, Martino and Adam bring Albert to the table – a gritty, mangled and rich EP thoughtfully named after the first doomed primate sent into space. Tracking social disconnection, isolation and loneliness, the EP is, as the band says, “[e]ncapsulated and floating helplessly in front of a world that is so close, but impenetrable, just like poor Albert.”

While there’s space and time for reflection on ‘Albert’ and ‘Imaginary Friends’, ‘Ruubes’ hits you with its brash guitar and nerve-racking percussion. Sydney director DK Robinson provides the visuals for the ‘Ruubes’ clip (from his upcoming visual piece Budgewoi Boy), and it’s a pretty ideal fit for the track. Man in front of the lens, Joshua Mehmet, is gripping and the nostalgic setting smacks of childhood memories of Australian suburbia.

Albert is out now.