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As showcased in their recent ‘Permanent Resident’ EP, Australia’s The Great Emu War Casualties possess everything it takes to become international cult favourites. They infuse art-rock influences such as Talking Heads and Everything Everything with the festival-headlining indie thrills of Bloc Party and Two Door Cinema Club, all with a lyrical slant of deep yet self-deprecating introspective. Those traits dominate their debut album ‘Public Sweetheart No.1’ which will be released on March 27th. The record includes their brand new single ‘Donut’. Listen HERE.
‘Public Sweetheart No.1’ casts The Great Emu War Casualties as sleep-deprived, overly emotional art-rockers. It’s a record of off-kilter grooves, sun-kissed melodies, dopamine-stimulating hooks and melancholic detours – but never losing sight of the quick thrills of a three-minute pop song. Collectively it feels like a cry for help, one that feels equally at home filling the awkward silences in a therapist’s office as it does on your chill beats playlist.
Vocalist / guitarist Joe Jackson says, “‘Public Sweetheart No.1’ is a blunt, honest self-assessment of my own behaviour over an extended period of time and the various ways in which I have affected the people closest to me, so I’ve at least tried to make it catchy in order to better live with myself. It’s about the clarity I’ve found in going back to basics, in trying to remove the chaos and noise of the world in favour of honesty. An anthemic apology, with some ‘sorry, not sorry’ sprinkled on top. I am sorry though, really.”
‘Donut’ kicks the jangly guitars and sweet vocal harmonies of the power-pop tradition into 2026 with the help of moody synth textures. Its stream-of-consciousness lyrics feel playfully surreal (“If I was juice at least I’d have a use / I’d be part of the healthy revolution” and “I was at the airport when you sent me a Canva about a donut”), but the spiky humour is part of the truth that emerges: you can realise that you’ve failed to embrace adulthood, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Joe adds, “‘Donut’ is my attempt at writing a three-minute autobiography. It’s one of those songs that is about everything and nothing at the same time. Longings and regrets and dreams. Structurally, it’s a total Alvvays rip off, and I still have not found the time to grow into a real boy.”
As well as ‘Donut’ and songs from the ‘Permanent Resident’ EP, the themes of the record’s new songs reflect its sound in the way in which both happiness and sadness and regrets and acceptance can be oddly hard to differentiate. The album was written by Joe Jacksonand bassist/vocalist Saskia Clapton. It was produced by the band with the ARIA Award winner Wayne Connolly (The Teskey Brothers,Julia Jacklin).
‘Public Sweetheart No.1’ is available to pre-order / pre-save HERE and will be available on vinyl.
Much like their music, the story behind The Great Emu War Casualties sits away from the bench marked conventional. Joe Jacksonrecalls missing his first ever gigs at primary school: the first by pretending his guitar string had snapped to avoid playing, and the second because his string had actually snapped. He started out in his teens as part of a Tenacious D tribute act, until he realised writing his own songs would land more gigs.
He met Saskia Clapton (originally from Sydney) when they were both based in Liverpool, before moving to The Netherlands and then to Melbourne. They completed the band with metal drummer Bibek Tamang (from Kathmandu, Nepal) and Melbourne indie scene mainstay Cat Sanzaro (vocals, synths). As for that band name? In 1932, the Australian government deployed the military to curb the nation’s runaway emu population. Let’s just say it didn’t go well…
‘Public Sweetheart No.1’ tracklist:
- ‘Ashes’
- ‘Old Dog’
- ‘Overreacting’
- ‘Get What You Want’
- ‘Late Reply’
- ‘Donut’
- ‘Wanna See You’
- ‘Don’t Be Sad’
- ‘Sob Story’
- ‘Turn My Lights Out’
- ‘Old World’
