Central Rain is the antidote to autotune: no-frills, melody- drenched indie rock that blurs The Church, Neil Young, R.E.M. and the Go-Betweens. The first solo project for Melbourne musician Luke Thomas, the songs are written from the heart and produced without bells, whistles or studio trickery. New album Kick The Moon takes Thomas away from the lush pop of 2015 EP Flying Information and down a heavier, guitar-based road. 'A lot of these songs are fairly upbeat,' he says, 'and it's good fun having a bunch of tunes you can shake your ass to!' It's still a typically eclectic affair, however punchy, dynamic tracks 'Mind Division', 'California Felt' and first single 'Hurricane Stan' are interspersed with the jangle of 'People Are Wrong' and 'Sailin' Alone', the dreamy, otherworldly 'Geometry Drippings' and beautiful, introspective ballad 'Conversations'. Kick The Moon was recorded direct to 2-inch tape in two days at The Aviary studios in Melbourne with bandmate Dean Willoughby contributing drum tracks and Thomas responsible for everything else. 'It's too easy to chop and change parts on a computer and I got tired of that process,' says Thomas. 'I wanted to get back to when I first started making records and do all the tracks live without any editing. When I initially came to Fraser (Montgomery) and Nick (Edin) at the Aviary with the idea, I think they thought I was a bit crazy and two days would be spreading it a bit thin, but we did it, and it was a very fun and rewarding process in itself.' Recording to tape also gives the songs a warmer sound compared to something going in and out of a computer. 'You get that classic sound like a lot of those old records you love. There hasn't been much around in the last 10 or so years that has that quality and warmth and I think you can recognise it when you hear it.'