Aotearoa emos Carb on Carb today release their third album Take Time. Tonight they begin their 10-date tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Carb on Carb are a product of many places. In the band’s lifetime they have been based in 4 cities and played in at least 70. The band’s first and self-titled album was “noisy and heartfelt, bridging the gap between 1990s emo bands like Rainer Maria and current counterparts like Waxahatchee” (Mess + Noise). Relentless touring won over fans across Australasia and the band temporarily relocated to Australia. This time away drew the band’s focus back to home with their celebrated second album For Ages; an extended love letter to NZ, with “soaring vocals, a guitar tone warm as a woollen blanket, mathy lead bits, ever changing dynamics and crash cymbals that wash over you like the ocean…as good an emo release as you will hear anywhere this year” (4ZZZ).

This third album Take Time, on the other hand, was written entirely at home. Drummer James elaborates on the title, “It’s many things at once, a joke: it took a long time; an exhortation: we could both do better at taking our time with things; and a proclamation of the theme of the album – time.”

“Heart-swelling” (Undertheradar.co.nz) album opener ‘2009’ began at the start, a song with “fuzzy guitars and an explosive chorus line” (Rolling Stone AU) about the unrestrained nights with friends on dark city streets that were a genesis of the band. Album closer, ‘I Know The End 2’, looks to the future and sees a rare appearance of drummer James on lead vocal. Like a conversation with a good friend, ‘I Know The End 2’ is raw and embracing. As a final taster of the album, the band has put forward ‘Home Again 7’, another instalment in the Papaiti Records-and-friends tongue-in-cheek series. It’s a bouncy track packed with New Zealand road-trip references.

The album release tour sees the band continue the road trip, visiting 5 cities in each country. The band describe touring as, “what Carb on Carb has always been about. We love connecting, hearing new bands and making friends all over the place. It’s kind of magic.”

Take Time is out now. LPs (pressed on black bio-vinyl!) are available via bandcamp (everywhere), Flying Out (NZ), 19th Nervous Breakdown (AU) and Salinas Records (US).

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