The Inadequates - Haven’t You Heard
Photo Credit: Emma Adin
Bursting with 12 tracks of tightly crafted chaos, reflective storytelling, and musical mischief The Inadequates invite listeners to step into the world a trio redefining folk with theatrical flair, genre-defying arrangements, and wildly expressive performances.
‘Haven’t You Heard?’ is a sprawling folk-theatre production in 12 tracks.
From foot-stomping absurdity to fragile reflections, it’s an anthology of love, longing, paranoia, heartbreak, and satire.
Featuring mandolin, accordion, acoustic guitar and layered harmonies, the album stretches the genre into strange and exciting places while never losing its emotional core.
The album opens with ‘When We Meet’, an upbeat, theatrical number that slowly reveals a darker twist - a love song from the perspective of a web stalker, its mandolin and accordion melodies both charming and unsettling.
‘Genevieve’ follows with an orchestral richness, its bittersweet breakup story disguised beneath irresistibly hooky melodies, while ‘The New Sensation’ injects a mischievous rush, using ominous harmonies and angular vocals to skewer consumerism and trend-chasing.
A gentler turn arrives with ‘Don’t Look Down’, a contemplative reflection on friendships lost to ambition, before ‘Alleyway Sharks’ drifts in - an accordion-led, drunken waltz steeped in post-party loneliness.
'Break the Peace' marks the album’s midpoint, building from solitude and grief into a layered instrumental tapestry, complete with hidden Morse code.
‘Little Green Lights’gives a modern twist to the love song, its spiralling arrangements mirroring the restless act of watching online “active” dots that lead nowhere.
‘Silence’ blends audacious hooks with tongue-in-cheek lyricism, capturing the limbo of a relationship that won’t end, while ‘Twilight Robbery’ maps a post-breakup wander through Brisbane, growing from soft beginnings to a soaring, haunting climax.
‘Where Are the Cameras’ heightens paranoia with story-driven theatrics, and ‘Lethe River’ offers a bittersweet, romantic flow inspired by the mythical river of forgetfulness.
The finale, ‘Snakes & Ladders’, dances between chaos and calm, closing the record with a dramatic sweep from hushed intimacy to metal-sharp intensity.
With their sharp suits, sharper lyrics, and a genre-bending spirit, The Inadequates are one of Brisbane’s most compelling acts. ‘Haven’t You Heard’ is their musical coming-of-age. It is loud, clever, and heartfelt in equal measure.
Enter the chaotic charm of The Inadequates with ‘Haven’t You Heard’, available to stream now. 
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