Joel Martorana and Thomas Elliott, the two members of the Melbourne duo Peace Ritual, are products of the Australian punk universe, but that’s not the kind of music they make. Instead, Peace Ritual’s sound goes for dreamy, pretty skyward jangle. Peace Ritual made a name for themselves with their self-titled 2022 EP, and now they’ve got a new single that they made with a likeminded collaborator.

James Goodson — who is, full disclosure, a friend — is another punk who makes hooky, pretty alt-rock these days. Goodson’s current project is the incredibly sick one-man band Dazy, and Goodson also produced Peace Ritual’s new single “Seconds,” and he also co-wrote it with Peace Ritual and Ocean Grove’s Sam Bassal. It’s a shimmery, starry-eyed jam with lots of harmonies, and it sounds bigger than anything that Peace Ritual or Dazy have done up until now. Here’s what Peace Ritual say about the new song.

“Seconds” evolved into a love song about timing and dealing with the unknown, and reminds us to slow down and breathe through the noise. We teamed up with James to add a fresh twist to the song. We recorded it remotely, bringing in the idea of “time zones” from the lyrics right into the making of the song. Self-recording played a crucial role, giving us the freedom to take our time and experiment with instrumentation, textures, and sound design — and push through our own boundaries. We are also really excited to be cooking away on a larger body of work with James behind the scenes.

Listen to “Seconds” below.

“Seconds” is out now on Last Ride Records.