Died Pretty

Australian alt-rock from the mid-80s that stuck around until the early 2000s. Their early efforts were produced by Radio Birdman's Rob Younger, a band with which they definitely hold something in common. Died Pretty is more somber, contemplative folk, but the guitars—robust, muscular, dramatic—and bright drums sound like they came from the same place.

The singer, Ron Peno, who somehow makes me think of Gordon Lightfoot, got his first break, if you could call it that, as co-writer of the Screaming Tribesmen's "Igloo."