Every so often an album lands in your inbox that makes you sit bolt upright and go: oh, this is the real deal. That’s exactly what happened the first time I hit play on Mongrel, the debut full-length from Sydney’s Second Idol – led by Kate Olivia Farquharson, who is not only a stone-cold legend of the scene, but is also organising LOUD WOMEN Fest Sydney this very weekend (tickets still available — do not sleep on this).
I haven’t had the joy of seeing Second Idol live yet – that delicious moment is coming in just a matter of days – but if this album is anything to go by, I should probably start stretching and pack tissues, incense, knee pads, and possibly a helmet. Because Mongrel is huge. It’s the sound of a band with something to say and absolutely no interest in softening the edges to make anyone more comfortable.
Second Idol’s music doesn’t hover politely around the idea of identity – it dives straight into the mess of it. Mongrel thrums with questions of belonging, gender, queerness, postcolonial frustration, diaspora ache, power, shame, pride, anger… all the things the world insists we compress into one neat narrative. Kate and co. simply refuse. The album celebrates multiplicity – the contradictions, the overlapping stories, the parts of yourself you were told were “too much” or “not enough.”
That tension becomes fuel for an incredibly rich sound – a heady fusion of alt-rock, grunge, goth and post-punk, engineered not to dazzle but to challenge and belong in the same breath. Proper LOUD WOMEN ethos: music with purpose, teeth, and solidarity baked in.
‘Silicone Maggot’ opens the album like a flare – eerie, uneasy, magnetic. A declaration: we’re here and we’re not smoothing anything down for you.
‘Boxing Ring’, which has already picked up well-deserved playlist traction, is a world-beating post-punk anthem – taut, urgent, and cathartic as hell.
‘Postcolonial Blues’ might be their boldest lyrical moment: blisteringly honest and beautifully delivered.
‘Spineless Wonders’ is the kind of track that will absolutely level a room once they hit the stage — bassline like a heartbeat, guitars full of menace.
And then ‘Third Culture Kids’… well, that one hit me squarely in the chest. It’s tender, fracturing, and stunning – a song for anyone who’s ever lived between categories, between cultures, between expectations.
Clayton Segelov’s production deserves a shout-out too – it’s atmospheric without becoming muddy, heavy without smothering the nuance, and, crucially, it leaves all the rawness intact. This is not a band polished into oblivion. This is a band allowed to sound like themselves.
Kate is a powerhouse in every sense – an organiser, a leader, a writer, a frontperson with vision and conviction — and this album is her, and their, mission statement writ large.
I cannot wait to see these songs live at LOUD WOMEN Fest Sydney and Melbourne. If the album hits this hard through headphones, I can only imagine what the real thing is going to do to me. (Send thoughts and prayers for my knees.)
Mongrel is out 5 December: Pre-save | Vinyl pre-order