Annie Hamilton - The Future Is Here But It Feels Kinda Like The Past (LP)

Annie Hamilton has a way of making time feel elastic. On her debut album, The Future Is Here But It Feels Kinda Like The Past, the Sydney artist leans into that foggy space where memory and present tense blur, and she does it with a painter’s sense of texture. That tracks with her background. Before going solo she was part of Little May, and she’s built her own visual world through her design and fashion work. You can hear that eye for detail in the music. Every guitar line feels placed, every harmony tucked into the mix with intent, like brushstrokes you only notice when the light hits right.

Released in 2022, the record sits comfortably between dream pop and indie rock, but it never drifts off into weightless haze. The guitars shimmer, yes, yet they carry real momentum. Drums move from soft, brushed pulses to full, roomy crashes. Synths don’t crowd, they glow at the edges. Hamilton’s voice ties it all together, cool and clear, often layered into little choirs that widen the frame without stealing the scene. It’s a sound that will make sense if you’ve ever jumped from a Cocteau Twins binge to a Sunday drive with Hatchie or Middle Kids. You get the uplift, then you get the ache.

The title reads like a thesis and the songs follow through. Hamilton writes about loops we can’t break, the feeling of walking somewhere familiar and noticing one new detail that changes the whole picture. When the rhythm section locks into a steady, loping pace, the guitars answer with lines that feel like second thoughts, then third thoughts. Choruses don’t always explode, they bloom. She lets air into the arrangements, so even at their most stacked, the songs breathe. It’s a neat trick for a debut, holding back enough to invite you closer while still giving you those satisfying hooks that live in your head all week.

What’s striking is how physical the record feels. There’s space in the low end, the kind that works in a room, not just on earbuds. Reverbs are used like architecture, shaping where your ear stands in the song. Little bits of noise, a floor-tom thump or a pick scrape, slip through and add grit. That analog warmth makes this an album you want to put on a turntable. If you’re hunting for The Future Is Here But It Feels Kinda Like The Past vinyl, you’ll get that feeling of the music pushing air, the chiming guitars riding on top of a steady, human pulse. It’s the kind of production that rewards a late night spin.

Lyrically, she leans inward without sinking into the heavy stuff for its own sake. Lines about staying up too late, rerunning conversations, or trying to hold on to something that keeps shifting feel grounded in lived scenes. There’s romance here, but also self-reckoning, and Hamilton has a knack for swapping the lens mid-song. One minute it’s a streetlight on wet pavement, the next it’s a quiet admission. She trusts restraint. That makes the bursts of volume land harder, the way a memory can crash in on a calm afternoon.

It’s easy to hear why this album has stuck with fans who like their indie rock with atmosphere and intent. The sequencing carries you along without fuss, so even on first play it feels like you’ve been here before, in a good way. And once the melodies sink their teeth in, you start noticing the small choices, like a guitar harmony arriving a beat late, or a harmony part lifting a final chorus just enough to feel like sunrise. Those choices give the record staying power.

For collectors, this feels like a sleeper classic, the kind of release you recommend to friends and then end up buying again as a gift. If you’re browsing a Melbourne record store or scrolling through vinyl records Australia late at night, put Annie Hamilton vinyl on your list. The Future Is Here But It Feels Kinda Like The Past vinyl sits nicely next to contemporary dreampop records, but it has its own weather system. And if you need a place to start or to buy Annie Hamilton records online, this album is the gateway. It captures a young artist who already knows her angles, her tones, and her stories, and it hints at where she might go next. Past and present side by side, turning at 33.