Welcome to what could be Brisbane’s next shining young guitar group - Dopamine. They’ve been popping up on small bills all around town throughout the year, steadily recruiting a repeat-offender fanbase which I’m sure you’ll join if you catch a show. Now releasing their debut EP, the band is looking to push themselves into the next eschalon of Brisbane music, and it’s safe to say they’re more than ready.
 

Consisting of three banging tracks, their debut EP ‘Outlaw’ is a pocket sized effort that’s jam packed full of flavour. Silky smooth vocal harmonies melt through the songs, double tracked and subtle enough to share the stage with the band’s crisp rhythms and guitar tones that melt in your mouth.

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While the songs’ pop sensibilities are a sure wave to explosive Aussie acts like Hockey Dad and Middle Kids, the guitar layers in I Lie and Headline Disgrace dig Dopamine their own niche in the pop-rock sound, where fuzzy blankets of layered sound engulf listeners in warm hugs.

Lyrically, Outlaw largely plays with themes of social outcast, perceptions of reality and finding confidence in oneself. In an age where young people are constantly held to unreasonable expectation and bombarded by images they’re pushed to ‘aspire’ to, Dopamine’s themes encourage cutting through social norms and traditions to find one’s true self - an important message for lost youths of today.

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All in all, Dopamine’s debut effort is an excellent sample of what’s to come. It’s tantalising, intriguing and a real tease. I can’t wait to see what’s next.