This Space Is Ours bring cerebral pop-punk in latest single, 'All The Things I've Been Avoiding'

Naarm/Melbourne’s This Space Is Ours shift into a softer, melancholic tone with their latest single, ‘All The Things I’ve Been Avoiding’, the 3rd single of the band’s to be released this year.

The track spends 1 and a half minutes focussing almost solely on vocalist Gemma Dunsmore’s delicate, emotive vocals while reverb-soaked guitars perfectly balance the track’s sonic palette initially, slowly building tension before exploding with the band’s trademark punchy sound around the halfway mark.

Testing the waters with these dynamic changes shows the band are maturing into one of the most exciting alternative bands in the current scene. This maturity is further reflected in the lyrical content, as they conceptually discuss overcoming mental boundaries and themes of self discovery.

It’s not enough that ‘All The Things I’ve Been Avoiding’ gut punches you in the feels with the stripped-back vocals of Gemma Dunsmore, accompanied by softly strummed guitar, but then This Space Is Ours deliver another blow two-thirds the way through with a thick wall of distortion and bludgeoning drums, pushing Gemma into the stratosphere, before gently floating back to earth. With ‘ATTIBA’, the band move away from pop-punk ballad tropes, heading more towards a prog/alt-rock format; it’s a cerebral pop-punk torch song that demands your attention and makes you want to pour your heart out to the person that matters the most - you.

Gemma speaks on the meaning behind ‘All The Things I’ve Been Avoiding’.

“The lyrics are written about mental health struggles and the grueling path to getting better; when you’ve come to terms with there being something wrong but only just begun the journey to fix it. Overtime, the personal meaning of this song has transformed for me. When I first wrote it, it was almost an apology, as if to say, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I’m trying.” I’ve since been diagnosed with being on the Autism spectrum, and now when I sing it, it feels more like I’m saying something along the lines of, “there is nothing wrong with me, this is who I am and I’m still learning about myself.”

The band have recorded 5 tracks with producer Beau Mckee (Earth Caller, Between You And Me), this being the fourth single to be released of the bunch following ‘My Name’ (2023), ‘Apology’ (2023) and ‘Gone In May’ (2022). Crafting a song with so many layers can be a daunting task, but Mckee gave them the room to breathe as they worked on the track.

“This is one out of five singles we recorded with Beau McKee. We had a lot of fun with him in the studio and he ensured we were all comfortable enough to play around and achieve the exact sound we were looking for.”- Gemma Dunsmore

The band have made a name for themselves over the past few years, scoring a triple j Unearthed First Play for their single ‘Gone In May’, as well as airtime on triple j’s Short.Fast.Loud program for ‘Apology’. They’ve also managed to land playlisting support from Apple Music, landing in playlist such as New Music Daily, The New Rock, and The Riff for both ‘Gone In May’ and ‘My Name’. On the live circuit the band have been equally as busy, scoring support slots for bands such as Drastic Park, Proposal, We Set Signals, PSTCRDS, Synge and Nora.

This Space Is Ours have shown over recent singles that they are more than ready to take things to the next level; and if ‘All The Things I’ve Been Avoiding’ is any indication of what’s to come, there is certainly a big future ahead.

‘All The Things I’ve Been Avoiding’ is out now on all streaming platforms.