A stateside release is the crowning achievement for what has been a hard three years for Melbourne, Australia's Art of Fighting. 'Wires' was originally released last year on the excellent Trifekta label to much crtical acclaim and the Australian equivalent of a Grammy for Best Independent Release.
Two years of touring the country followed playing with the likes of the Go-Betweens and the Church, which culminated in them doing one last round of shows with Songs:Ohia in support. If you had to find a musical reference for Art of Fighting it would be difficult to look past Low. The male/female vocals and each spare but exquisitely spaced note is very reminiscent of that group. The difficulty however in making music popularised by another group is that failure to better it will make your album sound derivitive. Unfortunately, AOF are not as accomplished as their influences and some poor songwriting prevents Wires from being the great new Australian hope that many claimed it was. Still, it is a good album by a young band, and if you are a fan of any of the above mentioned acts I heartily recommend that you seek it out.
 
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