Teen Angst joins us to chat their fave teen movie, Meryl Streep, and new EP 'Cerulean'

Photo credit: Tina Waddell

There’s a particular shade of blue that lingers in the pit of your stomach when you think about texting someone you haven’t spoken to in years—or when a song reminds you of a version of yourself you’d rather forget. That’s the space Teen Angst explores in Cerulean, their latest EP and follow-up to 2023’s Barn Sour (read more about Barn Sour in an article I wrote here).

Taking its name from Meryl Streep’s infamous monologue in The Devil Wears Prada, Cerulean is more than just a title—it’s a mood, a memory, a melancholic filter over the mundanity of everyday life. Across six tracks, the Perth four-piece delve into the emotional wreckage of old friendships, awkward high school reunions, and post-breakup spiral-outs, all drenched in their signature “antisocial-pop” aesthetic.

From the opening notes, it’s clear this isn’t just a continuation of their lo-fi roots—it’s an evolution. Working with producer Rhien Tan (Gap Year, Segue, Shy Panther) at Cue Sound, and mastering by Dan O’Connor (Jocelyn’s Baby, Heathcote Blue), the band have crafted a soundscape that feels more expansive and emotionally rich, without sacrificing the charming DIY textures that make their music feel so intimate.

Fronted by Michelle Yeong, with backing vocals coming from Connor Patmore, whose vocal interplay captures the aching push and pull of shared nostalgia, the songs are layered with dreamy synths, crunchy guitars, and lyrics that hit like passive-aggressive Instagram captions. The songwriting doesn’t try to be grand—it’s wonderfully specific: forgetting to reply to a message, overthinking a run-in at the shops, reliving old arguments in your head.

Tracks like High School Reunion and I'm Rot stand out for their emotional clarity and melodic punch, whilst the EP's first single release wuwu sits at its centre—physically, but also in a subtly metaphoric, reflective, and quietly devastating way. It’s the sound of looking out the car window at nothing in particular, pretending you're in a music video.

Cerulean feels like a coming-of-age story that never quite comes of age, and that’s exactly the point. Teen Angst has tapped into the beautiful discomfort of not knowing where you stand—between friendships, between relationships, between growing up and staying stuck. They’ve painted their most vivid picture yet. And like the colour itself, it’s cool, complex, and impossible to pin down.

To celebrate the release, we asked Teen Angst a few questions - so hit play, and get to know the band and Cerulean a bit better below.

Responses are from Michelle & Connor.

The EP title Cerulean references that iconic Meryl Streep moment—what was the significance of that reference for you, and how does it tie into the stories you're telling

on the record?

C: It’s so funny you say this, because the first thing my wife asked me when I told her the title of the EP was ‘Is that a The Devil Wears Prada reference?’ I’ve subsequently gone back and watched the iconic Cerulean Sweater monologue since we finished recording. Someone smarter than me could probably make a point about how we are influenced subconsciously by other people’s decisions/influence. Much like Andy Sachs not knowing she was being influenced by Oscar de la Renta when she bought a cerulean sweater, Teen Angst didn’t know we were being influenced by The Devil Wears Prada to name our EP Cerulean. There’s something very meta in there.

M: We had so many discussions on what we were going to name the EP and it was the

word/colour ‘blue’ that always stuck out for me (but I wasn’t sure if ripping off Joni Mitchell for this release was the way to go). But blue was definitely the word that encapsulates the

feeling of this EP.

Just before we went into the studio to record, I came across The Devil Wears Prada (thank you Stan subscription) and realised I hadn’t watched it in years. The moment I saw the Cerulean Sweater scene I immediately messaged our group chat and within seconds our EP name was decided. As Connor mentioned, there is definitely some sort of meta subconscious choice made here, possibly by the writers of The Devil Wears Prada, where 19 years later a Perth band deliberately chooses to name their EP ‘Cerulean.’

You’ve described Cerulean as evoking a “reflective, melancholic, gloomsville vibe”—what drew you to that emotional palette, and how did it influence the songwriting for this EP?

M: Our previous LP ‘Barn Sour’ had a very specific Australiana/domestic “I’m-very-much-a-homebody” vibe and we felt like we captured that for that release. Moving forward from that, we knew ‘Cerulean’ was going to be the opposite. With the addition of Darcy on the bass, the four of us created a Spotify playlist to see what we wanted to do with our next release. And it turned out we were all wanting something a little heavier and a tad more angsty (which is kind of funny seeing as our band name has always been more on the ironic side when it comes to writing about angst). There was a lot of Alvvays, Slow Pulp, Radiator Hospital & New Order in there - so it was hard to ignore the direction we were heading.

The EP touches on drifting friendships and breakups—were these drawn from personal experiences, collective band input, or pure fiction?

M: A majority of the lyrics are written from my personal experiences with the exception of ‘Norah’ (which is inspired by the film Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist) and ‘I’m Rot’ (detailing someone going through a breakup). I’ve always found writing about my own experiences to be easier over fictitious ones, for instance ‘High School Reunion’ was written within five minutes after receiving my 10 year high school reunion invitation.

Drifting friendships has definitely been another major theme on this EP. As I’ve reached the

latter half of my twenties, I’ve noticed the changing relationships in my life and how difficult it can be to maintain an adult friendship. Writing for this EP was always going to favour the

darker/melancholic side of things as a way to complement the heavier instrumentation we

were aiming for.

Working with Rhien Tan in Cue Sound Studio, how did their input help shape the sonic world of Cerulean? Were there any moments in the studio where the songs took an unexpected turn?

C: During the recording of our last LP ‘Barn Sour,’ we were listening to a lot of local Perth bands to find someone that could achieve the mix we wanted for our record. One record we particularly loved the sound of was Gap Year’s record ‘Flat Out,’ so we reached out to Rhien who produced and mixed that whole record. Rhien ended up mixing ‘Barn Sour’ and we were so happy with his work we asked him to both produce and mix ‘Cerulean.’

‘Cerulean’ features a lot of eclectic elements colliding together (often within the same song). We were confident Rhien could capture all those sounds (synths, harmonica, acoustic guitars, heavy distortion, dial-up internet noises) and craft something really cool out of them. Teen Angst tends to move really quickly in the studio, we recorded all 6 songs in about 4 days, so we don’t have time to overthink things too much. Rhien had the studio set-up so that we could jump from one instrument to another, recording takes across different songs, practically bouncing off each other in the process. To handle all that chaos, we needed someone with a calm-demeanor who could keep us on track and push us gently in the right direction.

If you got to time travel and play one of your songs in any teen movie ever—what movie is it, and which scene?

M: I am in love with this question - one of my favourite movie genres is teen rom/coms, so this was definitely a tough one to answer as there’s so many top-tier films to choose from. After an appropriately long scroll through my Letterboxd account, I’ve narrowed it down to Booksmart. There’s no other teen movie out there that translates my adolescence better than this one. The scene where Molly realises every other person at her school got accepted into college AND partied at the same time is the scene I can hear ‘wuwu’ (specifically the instrumental interlude segment) being played.

Teen Angst's new EP 'Cerulean' is out now.

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