SENS DEP (Sensory Deprivation) is a band that creates textured noise and sonic ruminations that explore ideas of control, restraint, and abandon in equal measure.

Formed in 2009 by Andrew and Ben Yardley as a side project for Melbourne band Laura, the group’s long-awaited debut album Lush Desolation will be released on the 30th of November 2020.

SENS DEP initially created sounds to accompany visual media, including installations and a film commission but this slowly took on the form of a live band Retail Fireworks and saw the group add Guy Roche and Pat Fitton to their lineup. With a sound that shifted between effects-laden guitar drones, noise, and electronic beats, Retail played a string of specially curated live shows around Melbourne.

Last days the trio shares the title track Lush Desolation on Bandcamp as the first single from the album with a video:

In recent years the group has returned to its original incarnation SENS DEP, with an emphasis on recording. Consisting of Andrew Yardley (guitar/ bass/ vox/ production), Ben Yardley (guitars/ field recordings/ production), and Caz Gannell (electric and acoustic cello/ general noise).

Recorded over four years in a tin shed, an alpine hunter’s hut, concrete inter zones, and the Tasmanian wilderness, Lush Desolation is as much a product of the environments it was recorded in as the ideas themselves. A sonic tension underpins much of the album, a delicate balance that isn’t always resolved. Lyrically the record dissects the relationship between humans and our environment and how that dynamic continues to change, often beyond recognition. It’s a challenging and transformative album, intimate and epic, a paean to the years of work that went into it.

Follow SENS DEP on: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp