The Triangles
Eleanor Horsburgh, Julie Conway, Katherine Simpson (née James), Matt Gormann and Robert Simpson met as school friends in Boronia, a suburb of Melbourne. They began playing together in 2003 and collaborated on writing songs that mixed elements of rock, psych-pop and folk.
They performed in local venues and self-released two song collections before signing with local label Half a Cow Records. Through Half a Cow they released the albums Magic Johnson (2005) and Seventy-Five Year Plan (2007). Magic Johnson spawned the regional hit singles “Applejack” and “Let’s Replace the Cityscapes.”
Magic Johnson featured a bunch of indie-rock singalongs, including the two singles “Applejack” and “Let’s Replace the Cityscapes”, which received radio airplay around Australia as well as being featured in MP3 form on numerous music websites around the world.
The Triangles’ fourth album Seventy-Five Year Plan was released on Half A Cow on the 14th of April 2007. The record reflects the The Triangles’ previously latent interest in country-rock, while maintaining their focus on sweet melodies, unorthodox song structures and inventive arrangements.
The Triangles live show is renowned for being filled with energetic stage antics and a lot of yelling, and the band is planning to tour a whole mess of cities around Australia following the release of their new record.
The Triangles ostensibly split after the release of Seventy-Five Year Plan when several members left Australia. The band reformed early in 2010 when they were approached to perform “Applejack” in a Spanish TV commercial for Estrella Damm. Consequently, the tune became a hit single in Spain during the summer of 2010, reaching No. 1 on the Spanish iTunes singles chart, as well as spending 14 weeks on the CD singles chart, peaking at No. 8. The commercial has been viewed on YouTube over eight million times as of 2021, and led to the posting of numerous home-grown “Applejack” music videos by Spanish fans.
The Triangles reactivated in late 2010 with new music in the form of an EP entitled The Night Lunch, released independently in 2011.
Katherine and Robert Simpson released an album in 2017 under the name Blooming Heck.
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Magic Johnson
A Tray of Songs (2004-2011)
Seventy-Five Year Plan
Discography
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson (hac117)
released on cd in 2005
- Applejack
- The Burnley Theatre
- Let’s Replace The Cityscapes
- The Girl You’ve Been Avoiding
- Punctured Lungs
- I Am Your Valley
- Like A Storm
- I Can’t Keep Away
- Daggers And Flames
- Your Heart
- Late At Night (A Hiker’s Song)
- The 1850s
Julie Conway – keyboards, accordion
Matt Gormann – guitars, vocals, ukulele, banjo, harmonica
Eleanor Horsburgh – vocals, drums, percussion, melodica, glockenspiel
Katherine Simpson – bass guitar, vocals, recorder, ukulele, kazoo
Robert Simpson – drums, guitars, synthesizer
“A swirling blend of guitars, keyboards, accordion and ukulele… The Triangles are pop in its purest sense. Lovely stuff.” – Rave magazine
“Some of the tracks are inventive enough to make me believe that what the world needs now is an indie pop Von Trapp family like this one… Chances are it is one of the most inventive, colourful albums you’ll hear this year.” – fasterlouder.com
“Not the kind of music to soundtrack physical exertion, The Triangles play intricate, multi-instrumental pop… Though a couple of early tracks hit the spot (Let’s Replace The Cityscapes) it’s the subtlety of later tracks I Can’t Keep Away, Your Heart and Daggers and Flames that are the album’s highlights.” – Herald Sun newspaper
Seventy-Five Year Plan
Seventy-Five Year Plan (hac125)
released on cd in 2007
1 The Other Side of the Pillow
2 Horse in the Ointment
3 Meat Blanket
4 Be Careful What You Wish For
5 Our Crops Are Doomed to Fail
6 You Get Me All Worked Up
7 Haven’t Seen You Lately
8 Citizens’ Band
9 I’ve Had Eyes for You
10 Ancient City
11 The Headlights Song
12 Molly
13 Will It Float?
Matt Gormann – guitars, vocals, ukulele, banjo, harmonica
Eleanor Horsburgh – vocals, drums, percussion, melodica, glockenspiel
Katherine Simpson – bass guitar, vocals, recorder, ukulele, kazoo
Robert Simpson – drums, guitars, synthesizer
“Seventy-Five Year Plan is a different beast, a beautiful collection of immaculately arranged melodies that could be loosely grouped as folk-pop, but would be happier unconstrained by genre… The band’s experience and the time they took over their task are evident in this record’s careful construction. The end result is warm and endearing, but with its sweetness carefully balanced out with humour, idiosyncrasy and bursts of rollicking tempo… The most impressive thing about Seventy-Five Year Plan is how goddamn likeable it is. This is the sort of album you’ll put on four or five times a day without even noticing, and still not get sick of.” – wirelessbollinger.com
A Tray of Songs
A Tray of Songs (hac187)
Best of and unreleased favourites 2004-2011
compilation released in 2017
THE TRIANGLES: Julie Conway (piano, accordion), Matt Gormann (guitars, vocals, banjolin), Eleanor Horsburgh (vocals, glockenspiel, melodica), Katherine Simpson (bass, vocals, recorders), Robert Simpson (drums, guitars)
GUEST APPEARANCES: Rowan Austin (trumpet and brass arrangement on Ancient City), Gordon Blake (flute on Will it Float?), Bob Firth (stylophone on The Burnley Theatre and Ancient City), Anne Makin (trombone on The Burnley Theatre and Ancient City), Ranil Rajapaksha (vocals on Your Heart), Laura White (melodica on Ancient City)
Tracks 6, 8, and 9 are from The Night Lunch EP, self-released in 2011 | Tracks 2, 5, 7, 10, 14, 15, and 16 are from the album Seventy-Five Year Plan, released through Half a Cow Records in 2007 | Tracks 1, 3, 4, 11, and 13 are from the album Magic Johnson, released through Half A Cow Records in 2005 | Track 12 is from the album Red Panda, self-released in 2004 | All tracks mixed by Greg Heaton and produced by the Triangles (tracks 6, 8, and 9 with Greg); All songs C The Triangles 2017 P The Triangles 2017.
all releases
Albums
Waterfive (2003) independent
Red Panda (2004) independent
Magic Johnson (2005; reissued 2010) Half a Cow Records HAC117
Seventy-Five Year Plan (2007) Half a Cow Records HAC125
A Tray of Cards: Best Of And Unreleased Favourites (2017) Half a Cow Records HAC187D (digital only)
Singles/EPs
“Let’s Replace the Cityscapes” (2003)
The Feast of Stephen (2003)
Christmas 2005 (2005) Half a Cow Records YULEDO001
“I’ve Had Eyes for You” (2006)
“Applejack” (2010)
The Night Lunch EP (2011)
“Applejack” b/w “Let’s Replace the Cityscapes” (2014) World of Rock Records
