Best known for his ’80s stint with the Stems, the acclaimed underdog garage-rock quartet he founded in Perth, Australia, Dom Mariani has long been a champion of power pop at its purest. Admirable, sure, but it’s no way to make a decent living. Mariani has been fortunate to have a successful architectural practice to carry him through the various peaks and valleys of career that’s seen limited commercial success. But he has received a fair number of accolades in his home country, including a 2005 induction into the Western Australian Music Awards Hall of Fame.
“Apple Of Life” is the title track and second single from Mariani’s upcoming solo LP, available this fall via Alive Naturalsound. With its ascendant slide-guitar lead and sticky-sweet hook, it has all the hallmarks of a power-pop classic and should thrill fetishists of the genre.
“I wanted the recording to stay true to the simplicity and arrangement,” says Mariani. “I didn’t want to overcomplicate it, just to build it in a more harmonic way and capture the subtle power of its hypnotic groove. The theme is based around the gentle reminder that we’ve only get one shot at life—and to make the most of it.”
We’re proud to premiere Dom Mariani’s “Apple Of Life.”
—Hobart Rowland
