Sydney’s Bridge Dog have never shied away from taking the unexpected route. Initially the pandemic project of songwriters Grace Ha (she/they) and Brian Park (he/him), the band released their first EP, the jangly, nostalgic Going South in 2021, with the intention of quickly completing a follow-up LP. Instead, the band picked up a new rhythm section in bassist Cohen Bargas (he/him) and drummer Eduardo Guerra (he/him), and became a fixture on the live circuit for the next few years, road-testing new material alongside the likes of Julia Jacklin, Last Dinosaurs, and Royel Otis.

When they finally made their way into the studio in 2023, the group doubled down on their DIY ethos, lovingly and painstakingly self-engineering the tracks that would comprise their debut album. Tracked largely in basements and other makeshift recording spaces, Auto Fictions marks a huge shift in tone, sound and approach for Bridge Dog. Alternately introspective and immediate, as hook-laden as it is abrasive, the album finds the band synthesising sensibilities that draw as much from British shoegaze and twee pop as they do from the Korean folk and power ballads that were everpresent in Ha and Park’s homes growing up.

Despite being released to relatively little fanfare in May 2025, Auto Fictions soon attracted enough attention to be picked up for physical and digital distribution in Japan by P-Vine Records, earning shout-outs from The Guardian, Billboard Japan and Apple Music on the way, as well as a nomination for the 2025 Australian Music Prize, marking Bridge Dog as one of the country’s most compelling new voices.