With a promise of mild exposure for the four predetermined finalists (so long as they agree to having their photo taken wearing Akonverse sneakers, and/or drinking Old Henry's pale ale at the finalist party), the competition has been carefully curated to ensure Cheerful Mag remains in the black for another financial year at the expense of the hundreds of artists who pay the mandatory $45 entry fee which has been carefully omitted from any of the "Needle in the Straw" promotional material. 

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED:

Big Reef
Known for their strong connection to the Partnerships Manager at Cheerful Mag (there is a familial aspect at play here), Big Reef have a promising career ahead of them. The band employ a broad palette of musical and production motifs borrowed from the new-wave and post-punk scenes of the 1980s, funnelling them into modern contemporary indie-pop songs.

Lost Coast
Lost Coast have built a reputation as one of Canberra's best bands to feature a venue booker as a member, their ability to provide an events space to Cheerful Mag at a heavily reduced rate makes them one of the most exciting bands on the scene at the moment. The five-piece instrumental post-rock band fills a room with dramatic, cinematic pieces that fold over themselves and morph from intimate melancholic moments into a fierce wall of noise seamlessly.  

Toque
With a busy lead vocalist who splits her time between music and a role as marketing manager at well known Sydney brewery “Old Henry” Toque knows good beer and good times and good music.
 
Miroji
George from Miroji is the son of the Cheerful Mag editor, he is a good boy but he's just got in with the wrong crowd - I think including his band as a finalist will be really good for him. Taking influence from Flight Facilities, Flume and Safia, Electro-Pop duo Miroji fuse elements from different genres. Hip Hop and Dance beats coalesce with Indie-Pop synths and samples which act as a pulsating musical bed for theier ethereal and melancholic folk vocals which tell poetic stories of travel, love, and longing.