Kimberley Street Retirement Village

About the album

The first ever digital re-release for the 1996 debut album by Perth, Western Australia's wistful jangle pop trio Thermos Cardy. The band were the first vehicle for songwriter Karl Smith, whose subsequent project Sodastream were favourites of John Peel (recording a Peel Session in 2000) and Belle & Sebastian (playing their legendary Bowlie Weekender in 1999).

Thermos Cardy formed in in 1994 with Harry Kneen on six-string bass, Adam Johnson on drums and Karl on vocals and guitar. Crafting songs in the back shed of their sharehouse on Kimberley Street, West Leederville, they named their first demo tape after a neighbouring old people's home, but it immediately received a thrashing on influential Perth radio station RTR FM and was soon re-released on vinyl by House of Wax Records, the label associated with the iconic Perth record store of the same name run by Kim Williams (the Summer Suns).

The album reveals a young band already fully formed, playing a pensive, elegant guitar pop uplifted by Karl's plaintive voice and poetic lyrics, harking back to 80s forebears like the Go-Betweens and The Smiths, without ever losing their own distinctive personality.

Thermos Cardy became live regulars around Perth in the mid 90s. They played the 1996 Summersault festival's Perth leg on a bill with Beck, Beastie Boys, Pavement and Sonic Youth (recently immortalised in the documentary The Best Summer). They had Triple J airplay, recorded a Live at the Wireless session, and appeared in the documentary Sitting Down in Sticky Carpet alongside local heroes Bluetile Lounge, O! and Squadcar 96.

They followed up Kimberley Street Retirement Village with mini-album Come To Where The Flavour Is before calling it quits in 1997.

Chapter Music released a solo single in 1997 for Karl Smith, which was snapped up for a UK release by the Bad Jazz label and began John Peel's love affair with Karl's music. His next band Sodastream had a track in Peel's 1998 Festive 50 and began to tour the UK and Europe regularly, playing the aforementioned Bowlie Weekender and supporting the likes of Yo La Tengo, Smog and and Low. Sodastream released four albums in the 2000s through classic indie labels like Tugboat/Rough Trade, Acuarela (Spain), Microindie (US), Fortuna Pop! (UK) and Trifekta (Australia).