If a carnival ride could make music, it might sound something like Ungus Ungus Ungus. The Naarm/Melbourne-centred collective has spent years refusing to stay in one musical lane, and their seventh studio album, The Fun House, takes that philosophy to its most delightfully chaotic extreme. Arriving August 28, the record is a colourful collision of psychedelic sounds, dancefloor rhythms, eccentric folk, cabaret theatrics and electronic experimentation an album designed to keep listeners guessing while never losing sight of the party.
With six full-length records already behind them and appearances at festivals including Woodford Folk, Port Fairy Folk and Rainbow Serpent, Ungus Ungus Ungus have established themselves as musical shapeshifters with a particular talent for turning unpredictability into entertainment. The Fun House takes that reputation and pushes it further.
The band’s members are now spread across three states, but the collective’s creative centre remains in Naarm/Melbourne. Rather than allowing geography to dilute their identity, the distance appears to have given the group even more room to experiment Bandleader Max Schollar-Root describes the record as an opportunity to embrace the band’s full stylistic range:
“As a band that plays fast and loose with genre, we have held nothing back stylistically…”
And they certainly haven’t. The album’s journey begins with ‘Funlerable’, where ominous vocals and circus-inspired organs introduce the record’s fascination with the strange relationship between happiness and vulnerability. From there, ‘Poltergeist’ transforms heartbreak into theatrical spectacle, beginning with a restrained cabaret atmosphere before erupting into something considerably more frantic.
Then comes ‘Dr Quiet’, pulling the listener into hazier territory through spacious dub textures and languid horns. ‘Wishes Three’ shifts gears once again, turning toward funky grooves and character-driven storytelling while exploring the origins and journey of food. The album’s vinyl edition adds another layer of intrigue with ‘Secret Track’, a mysterious and mellow B-side opener featuring acclaimed local MC Flash Poetry.
But the second half of The Fun House isn’t content to settle down.
‘Sauna Swing’ injects the record with bouncing electro-swing energy before ‘Move’ takes the physicality even further, merging drum’n’bass with guest vocals from FemCee. It’s the kind of track that seems almost engineered to turn a stationary listener into a moving one. Eventually, however, the carnival has to end.
Closing the album is ‘Beginnings’, an ambient instrumental that dramatically changes the temperature. Warm synths replace the frenetic energy of the preceding tracks, giving the listener somewhere soft to land after the album’s many twists and turns. And that sense of contrast is ultimately what makes The Fun House work.
Rather than treating its genre-hopping as a novelty, Ungus Ungus Ungus use each stylistic shift to reflect the album’s broader exploration of life in all its contradictions the exhilarating highs, uncomfortable lows, absurd moments, vulnerability, movement, stillness and everything between.
One minute you’re dancing. The next, you’re somewhere completely unexpected. Then you’re dancing again. The Fun House arrives August 28, with Ungus Ungus Ungus bringing the album’s unpredictable energy into the real world for their album launch at Shotkickers in Thornbury on August 29. If the record is anything to go by, audiences shouldn’t expect a conventional album launch. They should expect the ride.
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