It’s Sydney in the year 2020 and for the last two years The Finalists have been honing their sound beneath a Waterloo tin roof, in a Petersham attic, and down long polished corridors leading to a Marrickville practice room. The result is First, the musical amalgamation of singer/guitarist and songwriter Mark Tobin (Scarlet, Panic Syndrome, The Black Halo), guitarist Robert Young (The Wednesday Night, Semi Lemon Kola), bassist Chris Familton (Charlie Horse, Thorazine Shuffle) and drummer Matt Brown (Charlie Horse).

With a sound that draws on the group's collective music history playing in a number of bands in Sydney, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand, they’ve concocted a blend of jangly guitar-based indie rock, with elements of psych-rock, shoegaze and post-punk threading through their debut album.

You can hear the ghosts of Factory and Flying Nun Records, the evocative strains of The Go-Betweens and The Smiths and other Antipodean contemporaries such as Underground Lovers, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and RVG. On First, the twin totems of melody and melancholy course through the sparkling, shimmering guitar lines. The tranquil euphoria in the interplay between the guitars of Tobin and Young is a defining aspect of the band's sound. On songs such as 'Hunting Knife ', 'Hollywood' and 'Ten Seconds' they chime and spiral in sublime unison above atmospheric keyboards. One minute they're immersed in acoustic reveries ('Cool Keith', 'Harder Than You Think'), the next they're taking flight in Sonic Youth-inspired six-string explorations ('Misery').

The songs of The Finalists are predominately written by Tobin, with Young and Familton adding colour, shape, rhythm and texture. Tobin’s lyrics capture and reflect on the contemporary human experience with astute and measured poeticism – whether it’s the chronicling of fractured relationships, navigating the modern world or writing about a catastrophist who starts smoking again because he believes the world will end before he gets cancer.

For many years all Tobin ever wanted to be was the guitarist in the band, working closely with a singer to write songs. As he explains, a songwriting epiphany changed that. "For these songs the chords, lyrics and melody all came to me simultaneously. That meant I needed to find a band and become the singer."

"There is a definite acoustic flavour to the album - a product of the way the songs were written and recorded. I'm also a big fan of twin guitar bands where the parts intertwine, and chime – bands like The Church, Sonic Youth and Big Country," says Tobin. " We are all inspired by Kiwi music and with three quarters of the band from NZ we were always bound to be chasing the Flying Nun guitar style and ethos."

"That style of guitar interplay is central to the sound of The Finalists."