(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
The Straitjacket Fits (formerly Doublehappys) are perhaps the leading exponents of the psychedelic version of New Zealand lo-fi.
Formed in Auckland by Shayne Carter (vocals) and Andrew Brough (guitar), they first drew attention with the EP Life In One Chord (Flying Nun, 1987), which features All That That Brings and Dialing A Prayer. The songs on Hail (Flying Nun, 1988), including Hail, Life In One Chord, and Take From The Years, were centered primarily on the sumptuous vocal harmonies of the two leaders.
The band found its mission on the album Melt (Flying Nun, 1990), featuring songs (Bad Note For A Heart, Missing Presumed Drowned, Down In Splendour, Hand In Mine) arranged in an eccentric manner. The understated pop of their early work gradually gave way to a complex, even baroque sound.
That is the path Carter pursued on Blow (Flying Nun, 1993), after the split that deprived the band of Brough, who was replaced by Mark Petersen. Exaggerated in arrangement but lacking in melody, these songs (Done, Burn It Up, Brother's Keeper, and Train) resemble chart-topping superproductions of pop stars.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
Straitjacket Fits' guitarist Andrew Brough formed Bike, and probably gave
his pop masterpiece with Take In The Sun (Flying Nun, 1999), a
collection of impeccable, sunny, humble melodies
(Circus Kids, Slide On By, Welcome To My World).
Andrew Brough died in 2020.
