The Bats – Corner Coming Up (Flying Nun) (13th Floor Album Review)
The 13th Floor’s Simon Coffey signs in with his take on the new album by The Bats.
It’s been five years since The Bats last released an album (Foothills – 2020).
Corner Coming Up, recorded with luminary soundcraftsman Tex Houston at Chicks Studio in Port Chalmers, is their 11th album. In retrospect, its impressive how the band have managed to maintain the same lineup since Robert, Kaye and Paul shoplifted Malcolm from The Bilders who played their first gig on New Year’s Eve 1982 in Dunedin.
It’s not as if The Bats have turned their backs on their effervescent youth. The first cut from the album, released singularly back in April, Loline is full of fuzz, pop-sensibilities and melodic nostalgia reminiscent of classic Bats sound. Second in, on the album Lucky Day again retains that sound that is infectious, classic 1981 Flying Nun, with harmonious vocals and piano interlude to boot. The album title track Corner Coming Up, again features addictive guitar hook, pace, and an efflorescent keyboard harmony that shines.
On the flipside, there are songs with gentleness, slower, softer, an introspective perspective: A Line to the Stars, Song for the End, and Smallest Falls are scattered amongst the above, creating moodist waves if listening to the album in one sitting. It’s clever, and avoids creating a scenario of side one and side two having differing aesthetics (and listening counts) possibly reflective of the modern age of online listening. Though, it seems contemporary releases by The Bats are only online via Bandcamp these days, a rare political act by the band indeed.
Corner Coming Up is a rich snapshot of where (and whence) The Bats are after more than three decades together. They’re still writing and recording not too far from their roots—perhaps reveling in their longevity—while continuing to step things up live with a smidgeon of punk-rock energy and a firm DIY ethos.
Simon Coffey
Corner Coming Up‘ is out digitally, and on peach or black vinyl LP and CD on 17th October 2025 via Flying Nun Records
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