Gutter Parties is the bedroom brainchild of 22-year-old Hobartian Saul Latham.  In September 2009, the debut EP entitled 'Marooned' was released for free download. Last November, Marooned was released in a hard copy, hand-painted version at a debut show in Hobart and was capped to 20 copies.

Here on his first EP, the landscape is lo-fi and homespun, usually propelled by mesmerizing beats from the subcontinent or Africa. Latham's songs touch on the primal, nostalgia, intangibles, and your inner freak. Latham takes djembe drums, 60-year-old banjos, a poor quality ukulele, meditation balls, and not only makes them part of a distinct artistic vision, but also keeps them organic.

Gutter Parties could be compared to early catalogue Animal Collective. However, Marooned' feels more insular, self-contained, and unsettling.

Then again, these aren't shouts from a house party, but from a solitary bedroom. Moreover, Latham's outbursts are often tempered and sandwiched between clipped samples (opener "Be The Right Kind of Primitive") or ("Sashi") that help congeal the album as a whole.

Marooned ain't perfect; but it doesn't try to be. Over a melted beat and his own back-up oooooooh's and aaaaaah's, Latham wants to tell you something. Give it a listen. Or don't, It's your life.

By Ashleigh Austin