Since forming in 2010, Brisbane’s Cub Sport have undergone one of the unlikeliest shifts in recent Australian music history: from twee, guitar-driven indie pop to a confessional, genre-transcending pop act. But their journey has been less of a transformation and more of a blossoming into who they were always meant to be – catalysed by singer and lead songwriter Tim Nelson’s coming-out and love story with keyboardist and husband Sam Netterfield.
‘Jesus at the Gay Bar,’ their fifth album, arrived on Good Friday by bringing a hefty dose of spirituality to the dancefloor. This isn’t the band’s first dalliance with electronic music – 2019’s self-titled record trod similar territory – but this time, they’re diving all the way into deep house and disco-inflected synthpop. Across 10 tracks, they craft a palette of crystalline guitars, melancholy chord progressions, and gentle, propulsive beats that perfectly complement Nelson’s voice.
Opening track ‘Always Got the Love’ instantly pulls you into Cub Sport’s world with its fragile falsetto chorus and its evocative road-trip verses. Each song feels like a glimpse into the band’s real lives: a drive across the country, a gloomy night under moonlight, a dialogue between lovers. Even their deepest fantasies seem almost mundane, like on ‘Zoom’: “We could run away / Where no one knows our names / I could see you every day… / We could try it for a year.”
And yet, this is the least lyrically driven Cub Sport album to date. Nelson, who continues to mature as an equally great balladeer and pop hook singer, warps his beautiful voice more than ever with Auto-Tune, distortion, and into lush swaths of reverb. The music around him most closely recalls The xx’s ‘I See You,’ Jamie xx’s ‘In Colour,’ or even Fred again..’s productions: dance music that transcends words to create a warm yet grand shared space, for headphones and clubs alike.
The core emotion of Cub Sport’s music is tenderness – the desire to be truly seen and held by an intimate partner. That longing came to a head on 2020’s ‘Like Nirvana’, a work of “pure catharsis” fitting for a year spent in and out of pandemic lockdowns. Still, that album had a sense of stasis – as if the band, rounded out by Zoe Davis and Dan Puusaari, were stuck experiencing their emotional revelations in a vacuum, yet to be actualised in the outside world.
If ‘Like Nirvana’ was about putting in the work of understanding oneself, on ‘Jesus at the Gay Bar’ Cub Sport reap the fruits of their labour. There’s a deeper sense of comfort in the band’s queer identities, in Nelson and Netterfield’s long-term relationship; on ‘Zoom’: “I’m planning our whole lives / And you still look at me like I’m some kind of angel / And I still turn to you.” But there’s also a sense of urgency that’s never quite been embodied in their music before. On the uptempo ‘Keep Me Safe,’ they’re running away from their circumstances, towards the euphoria of the dancefloor: “I just wanna drive forever / I just wanna die in our heaven…”
By the final track, ‘Magic in U,’ every sentiment has been completely earned. “You’re going to be alright / And I’m always on your side / I can see the magic in ya,” Nelson sings. Cub Sport believe in you, and they’re calling you to go out and dance. Perhaps you’ll find your own metaphorical ‘Jesus at the Gay Bar’ too.
