Punk drum and bass duo smallways. drop their chaotic debut album, 'BROKE BRAIN'
Photo credit - Mullet Stainz
Gadigal/Sydney drum and bass punk duo, smallways. have dropped their debut album, ‘BROKE BRAIN’, completing a three-year process of writing, recording and releasing music entirely on their own terms.
Built around five-string bass, drums and shared lead and backing vocals, the duo formed in 2023 with a deliberately unusual setup and a willingness to see where it would go. Rather than bringing finished arrangements into the studio, smallways. develop their songs in real time, pulling apart and rebuilding parts, instruments and ideas as they go. The result is a ten-track, split two-part debut - ‘MIND YOUR HEAD’ and ‘BROKE BRAIN’ - that is strange, restless, relentless, funny, heavy and occasionally out of control.
While ‘BROKE BRAIN’ takes its questions seriously, it’s also a piss take — self-deprecating, deeply sad and full of rage, with a cheeky energy that refuses to disappear beneath the weight of what it confronts. Across the record, smallways. explore alienation, work, money, identity, relationships and the contradictions of trying to live differently within systems everyone is expected to participate in. The first half, ‘MIND YOUR HEAD’, looks outward at money, status, productivity, social performance and obligation, while ‘BROKE BRAIN’ turns the questioning further inward and becomes increasingly conversational and unhinged. At its heart, the album asks whether we are collectively creating something meaningful and intentional, or simply convincing ourselves that the chaos around us is a form of order.
smallways. have consistently proven themselves to be THE chaotic, anarchic bass-and-drum duo, following no rules beyond art and noise, and doing so with such ferocious abandon. ‘BROKE BRAIN’ is an intense ten-track barrage that tests to see if you’re paying attention, poking and prodding the grey matter with metallic bass notes, raw beats and microphones covered in bloodied spit. It’s not all full throttle, though, as the duo know when to offer some reprieve, albeit momentarily, with tracks like ‘SEE ME’, and the creeping-before-exploding ‘SAME’.
There’s an almost deliberate sense of discomfort running through ‘BROKE BRAIN’, with smallways. constantly shifting between abrasive noise, groove, melody and outright chaos without ever seeming particularly interested in making things easy for the listener. It’s challenging without being inaccessible, and beneath all the noise is a wicked sense of humour and an unmistakable sense that these two are having an absolute fucking blast making it.
smallways. are one of those outfits that have always existed on the fringe — underrated but appreciated, and seemingly just waiting for the right moment for the cracks in the surf-rock and indie scene to open wide enough for two talented weirdos to break through and blow some minds. ‘BROKE BRAIN’ might just be that moment.
The album’s two-part concept is deeply personal. ‘MIND YOUR HEAD’ emerged during the recording process following a workplace injury experienced by one half of the duo, becoming both a literal warning and a reflection on mental health, self-observation and the consequences of looking too closely at the conditions around you. Over the three years it took to complete the record, smallways. navigated prolonged unemployment, legal and financial pressures, housing instability, illness and hospitalisations, while continuing to make music and contribute to their local scene. ‘BROKE BRAIN’ became a document of that period — not an attempt to find an answer, but an acknowledgement of what happens when you refuse to stop asking questions.
That questioning extends beyond the album and into everything smallways. do. In 2024, they organised MOVING DIFFERENT Festival, a 20-act, three-stage event supporting the Sydney music community, and they continue to build spaces around the same DIY principles that underpin their music. The festival returns in 2026 alongside regional and interstate touring following the album's release, bringing together musicians, visual artists, tattoo artists, screen-printing and other activations. For smallways., the contradiction is central: participating in existing structures while simultaneously questioning whether those structures are working at all.
‘BROKE BRAIN’ is ultimately an introduction to smallways. — two people trying to make something different while living inside the same systems as everyone else. The songs change shape, become absurd, get angry, make jokes, get lost and keep moving. There is no clean position to arrive at and no great solution waiting at the end. Just the ongoing process of questioning, creating and persisting. As smallways. put it: “We all shape this thing in some way. Maybe, in small ways, we do make a difference.”
‘BROKE BRAIN’ is out now on all streaming platforms.
Related articles
