Taking their cues (and their producer) from the traditional Sydney indie pop sound, Modern Giant are not doing anything new on their debut album, Satellite Nights. Not, as George and Jerry might auger, that there’s anything wrong with that.

With ex-Hummingbirds frontman Simon Holmes in the producer’s chair, Satellite Nights opens politely with “I’m Not Broken”, which has a pleasant jingle-jangle of guitars, and Gynia Favot’s occasionally off-kilter vocals guiding it along. On “Hell is Other People”, guitarist Andy Meehan really begins his role, which is to provide the gruff counterpart to Favot’s relative sweetness.

bassist Adam Gibson doesn’t so much sing as he does speak the words, and that’s certainly true of the intoned “The Band’s Broken Up”, where he laments the passing of Midnight Oil, the Hummingbirds, and the Clash. The general feeling of looking back to the past is best exemplified on the closing “Angie Hart”, where Modern Giant pay homage to the former Frente member.

So, yes, Modern Giant are pleasant enough and Satellite Nights is a solid album with some pretty good songs, but is that really enough? Part of the problem with the Sydney music scene is that it’s been too self-satisfied for its own good, too insular and not nearly original enough. That perception is slowly coming around, but Modern Giant do nothing to dislodge it.