EP REVIEW: SELFISH ART BY GARDEN EYES
Reviewed by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Release date: 2 October 2026
Brisbane alternative rock quartet Garden Eyes have recorded an extended player (EP), ‘Selfish Art’.
The band’s musical world is a multi-genre blend of indie-rock, pop, emo and spoken word soundscapes.
The EP takes off with upbeat drums and chiming guitars in ‘Keep Close’ as there is a contrast in between the beautiful guitar melody and vocals and the “broken” person who is the focus of the song’s message. The song asks to move “mountains” and to “break down the walls” as the doubt about staying close is questioned: we are “living contradictions”. Then, lilting and chiming guitar melodies brings in ‘Sunshine’, a song that balances the struggles between love and grief. The vocals are slightly deadpan in the verses until the chorus lift. The song is about “not here for a long time”, so let’s enjoy the now as “you are everything to me”.
It is followed by ‘Fever Dream’, and is a change in tone in this song as the vocals interplay and the big guitars rip. Again, the theme of relationships and their mess is the subject matter: “take me as a temporary fix” and be the “warmth against my skin” as this “makes me stay” and “co-exist”. This song has a real emo-rock style, and it is a real highlight!
The lonely guitar riff has a mellow and slightly downbeat tone as ‘Speak Slow’ captures the push and pull of self-doubt and a self-destructive connection as the theme of just “hold on to hope” is expressed. The restrained drums that burst with intermittent rage establish the mood as the spoken word rap tells the narrative, and the emo scream demonstrates the inner rage of fighting on through the mess. Next is the song ‘Contest’ with its strummed acoustic guitars. It is a stripped-back love song that has a bleak tone. Lyrically, it navigates the realities of loving someone struggling with depression. Its bare instrumentation amplifies the melancholic nature of the song that tackles the exhaustion, guilt, resentment and hidden hurt that grows when love becomes entangled with someone else’s mental health struggles.
The brooding emo-rock of ‘Blur’ examines the tension between security and fear. The guitar melody and drumbeats create an anxiety soundscape where “red eyes” and “falling over myself as we’re falling apart” are happening. ‘Blur’ is a darker and mature song underscored by moody guitars and dynamic shifts in drums. The EP closes out with the chiming guitar riff of ‘Water’s Edge’, where “the ice looks thin” and being “afraid to swim” and “hurt” means that life might pass you by. At the halfway point of the song, the drumbeat kicks like a punch to the “chest” as the song “gets cold” and fades away. It is a short but powerful song and a great way to finish. It’s another EP highlight! So, seek out this EP, and it will reward you.
