Sex Mask are a young post-punk trio from Melbourne and this song, Blisters, finds them collaborating with another local band, Radio Free Alice.

Sometimes I just know I’m going to like an artist I’ve never heard before: it’s usually a combination of the band name, the song title, the record label, the place they come from… sometimes the PR people sending it my way.

Pretty much all of that’s the case with Sex Mask, a post-punk trio from Melbourne, and their lastest song Blisters.

It turns out to be quite different from their previous (faster, shoutier) releases, being slower, moodier and more reflective, and featuring guest vocals from Noah Learmouth, front man of another Melbourne band Radio Free Alice.

Recently championed as “Australia’s next big export” by NME, the trio of Vicente Moncada on drums/production, Wry Gray on vocals and lyrics, and Kaya Martin on guitars and synths have only released a handful of singles to date.

But they’ve already amassed a devout following through early tracks such as TV Movie and last single Cold, blending early ’80s industrial, no-wave and absurdist punk influences.

Speaking about the track Gray says it was one of the earliest songs they wrote for the band and, while it sounds to me as if it was recorded at dead of night in East London, Gray thinks it’s redolent of where they recorded it, at a studio on Sydney’s northern beaches. 

“I feel like the sense of place really comes through. The imminent threat of boulders and small boat ride to the studio set a unique precedent to its making.”

Sex Mask are currently on tour in the UK with Radio Free Alice, culminating in a date at the Lexington next week.