After many tiring months, nine recording studios and six sound engineers later, Melbourne's Augie March quietly released their first album Sunset Studies last week.

The record's soothing melodies, sombre tones and narrative lyrics have already captured the attention of music critics across the country, with Sydney's Tribe publication hailing it as 'one of the most exceptional debut albums ever recorded'.

Certainly, when Augie March do something, they do it properly.  Weighing in at 76 minutes, each track is a carefully constructed and emotive piece of music; not a throw away three minute pop song.  But while everyone else has been blown away by the sheer magnificence of Sunset Studies, Adam Donovan, the band's guitarist, still has reservations about the album.

"It fell a little bit short of our expectations, but that was always going to be the case," Donovan said.  "Time got the better of us in the end.  We were really working against the clock.

"We only had a certain amount of time in the first studio before we had to move from there to another location.  Then something else came up and we couldn't stay there either, so we had to move again.  That happened about four or five times, which really interrupted proceedings."  Sunset Studies is Augie March's first full-length recording and the culmination of four years of tireless work.  The band formed in 1996 when childhood mates Donovan and drummer David Williams ran into Glenn Richards in a pub.  Richards, a young man with an incredible voice and a penchant for lyrical storytelling, was looking to put a band together and so the trio recruited their friend Edmond Ammendola to play bass guitar.

Shortly after performing their first gigs, they were signed to Ra Records and released their debut EP Thanks For The Memes in January 1998.  Augie March were already  making waves within the music industry, but Donovan recalls it wasn't until the release of their 1999 single Asleep In Perfection that the public began to really sit up and take notice.  Triple J radio latched onto the single and refused to let go, saturating the airwaves whenever possible with the dreamy ballad.  Despite the group's melodic folk sound, Donovan insists on describing Augie March's music as rock and roll.

"I like to call it that because rock is such a diverse pigeon hole.  We all have very different influences that we bring to the band and they mould together nicely.  If we were all into the same thing we'd end up sounding like whoever we were influenced by.  I like the way everybody has something different to offer."

Undoubtedly, the different ingredients have all combined to produce a stunning dish, which was recognised at last month's ARIA awards in the shape of two nominations.  On a night when pop darlings Madison Avenue and Killing Heidi reigned supreme, Donovan said the ARIAs were a real eye opener to the current Australian music scene.

"It made me realise what kind of strange game we've entered," he said.  "On the surface it (Australian music) seems to be fairly one dimensional but underneath there's a huge untapped reservoir of talent."  A lot rests on the next few months for Augie March as the band prepares for a full-scale national tour, with the possibility of an overseas stint on the cards as well.

And while Sunset Studies will continue to promote itself by virtue of its artistic brilliance, the group will need to prove to live audiences that they can serve it up just as sweetly onstage.

Nick

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