B-Side Guys

The whole song is built on a structural tension that vocalist Ruby Barton-Taylor has already told you about before the first note plays: restraint giving way to something that cuts. The phased guitar lines and steady rhythm at the opening aren’t atmospheric throat-clearing. They’re the calm before a chorus that arrives like a door being kicked open.

Perth five-piece navy june have been building their sound in Western Australia’s indie scene since 2024, supporting acts across Boorloo’s local circuit while developing a grunge-soul hybrid that draws from Portishead, Fiona Apple, and No Doubt without photocopying any of them. “Mister” is the clearest statement of what that combination actually sounds like in practice: the soul warmth in Barton-Taylor’s vocals cutting through the wall of overdriven guitar rather than drowning underneath it, which requires both the singer and the arrangement to hold their ground simultaneously.

The lyrical premise is direct and earns its directness. “Being unapologetic in your opinions of someone,” as Barton-Taylor puts it, isn’t a novel concept for a breakup song, but the execution makes it feel specific rather than generic. The pre-chorus builds suspense through confrontation, not anguish, and the shift in emotional register between the verses and the chorus isn’t from sad to defiant but from controlled to unleashed. The defiance was always there. The chorus just stops containing it.

The swirling, panned guitar solos that fill the back half give the track a smouldering quality that lingers after the song ends, which is the appropriate response to a song written about someone who no longer deserves the space they’re still taking up.