The Melodrones return to blow the cobwebs away on your hump day.

If you can rely on Sydney quintet The Melodrones for one thing, other than a bloody fun live show, it’s their knack for giving you something to munch on. I’m talking about layers. Like songs that – if you’re music-nerdily-inclined – you need to unpack one sound at a time, one listen at a time. The group can go from doo-wop doodlers to noisy anarchists to euphoric post-punks in the space of a few bars, and often all at once.

‘Never Too Late’ might be the most abstract version of The Melodrones yet. Underscored by this pulsing beat, the canvas quickly gets covered in wahhed-out and distorted guitars, with frontman Rik Saunders spraying lines like an optimistic but spiteful ex. From there it only builds; Mel drops some sugary lines, a snare cracks like a whip, the guitars snake through either ear, giving new harmonic flashes throughout.

“We were running ahead of schedule and trying to get the most out of the tape. In our initial gigs we used to play a version of ‘Never Too Late’ live so we spontaneously started jamming it when we were doing takes but it was never intended for the record. Wade laid down this drum machine part and we all started doing our best Suicide impression. Xavier was bashing this huge chain for a percussion part, Mel brings it home in the outro I was singing weirdly, what can I say? We may have lost our minds here.”

Hard to tell whether this is an opener or a closer, but there’s an easy way to find out. Catch the band celebrating the release with two performances, with Craig Dermody (Scott and Charlene’s Wedding) and Roy Molloy (of Alex Cameron) in support: 26th June at 185 Bar in Marrickville & 27th June at Frank’s Wild Years in Thirroul.