Bird Noises by Midnight Oil

Bird Noises, Midnight Oil's first EP, came out on 24 November 1980 on the band's own independent label, Powderworks, with CBS handling manufacturing and distribution. Leszek Karski produced it. By then the Sydney band had a self-titled album behind them and a cult following at home, and the lineup had Peter Garrett out front with Jim Moginie on guitar and keyboards, Martin Rotsey on guitar and Rob Hirst on drums.

It's lean, wiry and restless, post-punk energy harnessed to a band that already sounded bigger than the clubs it played, and "Wedding Cake Island" is the track that later reached the countdowns. The EP climbed into the Top 30 of the Kent Music Report singles chart, a sign of the bigger things to come.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.