Some years in the making, The Laurels' debut album Plains was almost washed away in a flash flood during its final stages of completion. Save for the heroics of producer Liam Judson wading across a raging causeway clad only in his underpants and holding the master tapes high above his head, it may never have seen the light of day. Through years of touring and shows with the likes of The Black Angels, Wooden Shjips, Swervedriver, Low and Tame Impala, The Laurels have developed a solid reputation as one of the country's best live bands. Whilst notoriety as a floppy haired sonic assault machine was flattering, it felt incomplete to the band, and instilled the desire to showcase their songs as they were meant to be heard. Although The Laurels have given new meaning to the words 'highly anticipated album', Plains is the album they've been wanting to make for years. Gerald Murnane's novel 'The Plains' provided inspiration for the album's title and Plains is The Laurels' "Second great age of exploration", a search for meaning in an abstract, indefinite space; a reflection of interminably long drives from show to show through Australia's rural landscape; the feeling that anything is possible but not quite knowing how to make it happen. Intended as an homage to bands who made the recording studio their own, with an emphasis on the dualism of their live act and recorded discography, The Laurels decided to reveal what had been shielded behind their wall of white noise on Plains. Producer Liam Judson (Belles Will Ring, Cloud Control), a long-time friend of the band who helped with the recording of their acclaimed 2011 debut EP Mesozoic, was the man to dismantle The Laurels' wall of sound brick by brick, and also the man with inroads into rural New South Wales' short-term rental market. Over the album's 10 songs, dual guitarists and vocalists Piers Cornelius and Luke O'Farrell distort, wind and loop their formidable guitar sounds around the driving bass of Conor Hannan and unwavering drums of Kate Wilson, highlighting both the depth and the breadth of The Laurels' songwriting. Predictably though, a band with a name symbolising peace and victory was always going to make it out in the end. The master tapes were transported safely across the flooded causeway, Liam Judson is free to wander the Earth wearing only his underpants for many years to come and The Laurels will finally release their debut album.