Z.A.M Leaves a Version of Himself Behind on Say Goodbye

Lismore Guitar Pop Meets New Wave Nostalgia Across Z.A.M’s Coming of Age EP

The guitars arrive soft and wide, clean chorus and long reverb tails. Meanwhile, the rhythm section holds a steady mid tempo. That is the room Z.A.M works in across Say Goodbye. The EP landed on 14 May 2026. Ultimately, it is about growing up, and about leaving parts of yourself behind.

You can listen to our full playlist which contains the artist’s music, and know more about the artist’s work by scrolling down the page.

Z.A.M And Say Goodbye Sit Inside Australia’s New Wave Revival

New Wave keeps coming back because its parts are cheap and portable. First, a chorus pedal, a dry kit or a drum machine. Then a bass playing eighths, and a vocal sitting slightly back in the mix. In fact, Australian alternative pop has been running that toolkit hard for years. As a result, the sound usually lands between dream pop softness and the bright, nervy edge of the early 1980s.

Z.A.M works squarely inside that wave. The Lismore artist builds Say Goodbye from Alt Rock Pop, Alternative Pop and Art Pop parts. Meanwhile, New Wave and indie pop thread through the arrangements. The EP is dreamy and nostalgic by design. That nostalgia does real work, rather than sitting there as decoration. In short, it is the sound of looking back at a version of yourself you have already left.

That framing is the whole point of the record. Say Goodbye moves through the complications of coming of age. The transformation arrives with it. So does the plain awkwardness of shedding a past life to become someone new. Plenty of records claim that territory. Fewer, though, commit to the bittersweet part, where the leaving actually costs something.

Lismore, Art Pop And The Amp Turned Up On A Coming Of Age Record

The other interesting thing here is the width. Art Pop suggests one kind of project, built on arrangement ideas and studio choices. On the other hand, Alt Rock Pop suggests a band in a room with an amp turned up. Say Goodbye keeps a foot in both. That tension is what stops the EP settling into a single mood.

Lismore is useful context, too. The northern rivers region of New South Wales sits a long way from the Melbourne and Sydney venue circuits. Those circuits usually decide which Australian guitar acts get heard. As a result, distance like that pushes artists toward self sufficiency. Records get made where the artist lives. Consequently, the results are less polished, and a good deal more specific, than a metro studio product.

The writing carries the same directness. Indeed, this is not a concept record about youth. Instead, it tracks the feeling of closing one chapter while the next is still unwritten.

“The ‘Say Goodbye’ EP truly captures that universal feeling of growing up and the bittersweet nature of leaving one chapter behind for the next,” said Bryan Hall from Z.A.M. “It’s a very personal project that I believe many listeners will connect with as they navigate their own journeys of self-discovery and change.”

Hazel English, Day Wave And Current Joys Map The Reference Points

Z.A.M points to Hazel English, Day Wave and Current Joys as reference points. Between them, the three map the record neatly. First, Hazel English is the Australian songwriter who built her early records in California. She works the same soft focus vocal and washed guitar register the EP leans on. Similarly, Day Wave is the Los Angeles project of Jackson Phillips. He has proved that a chorus pedal and a patient tempo can carry a whole record. Current Joys, by contrast, pulls the other way, rougher and more direct. That pull is audible whenever Say Goodbye lets the guitars off the leash.

Because of that spread, the EP reads differently depending on where a listener enters it. Arrive from the dream pop side and the reverb does the talking. Come in from the scrappier end of bedroom rock, however, and the takes sound looser than the polish first suggests.

IndieRock.News curator team: “What earns Say Goodbye a slot with us is the restraint in the arrangements. The guitars stay clean and the rhythm section stays simple. The writing about leaving home then has space to land.”

Where To Stream Z.A.M Say Goodbye And Follow The Project

The live company has been worth noting too. Z.A.M has taken support slots for international headline artists touring Australia. Those stages have included Billboard charting singer Conrad Sewell and ARIA nominated Melbourne act Telenova. German born songwriter Hachiku is on that list too. Three very different rooms, in short, and a decent shorthand for how wide the audience already runs. Moreover, for a regional act, support slots are the fastest route to a bigger room.

In addition, there is catalogue behind this one. An earlier Z.A.M EP, fun, drew coverage from INDIEOCLOCK and It’s All Indie back in 2022. So the back catalogue rewards a scroll once Say Goodbye has done its work. Listeners arriving through the newer EP will find that older material sitting in much the same register.

Beyond Spotify, the release is also up on Bandcamp, and a free download code sits behind the GetMusic.fm release page. Besides that, the project keeps a profile on triple j Unearthed. That is where plenty of Australian regional acts still get found first.

To keep up with Z.A.M, follow the project on Instagram, the second Instagram account, Facebook, and the YouTube channel. Finally, contact details and the rest of the links sit on the official website.