Place your trust in the tastes of music industry veteran Emma Coyle and Wolf & Cub founding member Joel Byrne, as they send out split records of some of Adelaide’s most exciting new musicians.

Part Time Records launched two years ago as an independent record label headed up by two former Music SA colleagues, Emma Coyle and Joel Byrne.

Emma tells CityMag the label has an indie lean to it and looks after bands such as Los Angeles-based alt-indie singer Jess Cornelius and the late former Drones drummer Mike Noga, who passed away in August.

“However, we try and not define [Part Time Records] too much by genre,” Emma says.

Despite Part Time Records’ international scope, Emma and Joel have gone totally local with the release of their new project, Singles Club.

The aim of the initiative is to expose listeners to new music, curated by Part Time Records, by mailing split 7-inch singles of South Australian musicians out to participants.

“During the shutdown none of the record stores were open, and we just thought this is something everyone needs, as we all need to have music in our lives, especially at this point in time,” Emma says.

Once you sign up for the year-long program, you’re delivered three 7-inch split single records and corresponding digital downloads.

For the uninitiated, a split single is a record released with two singles by two separate artists, on side A and side B.

“What you get in this first volume is three releases,” Emma explains, “so that’s six artists, and hopefully six new discoveries.”

The first edition of volume one includes an earworm called ‘FOMO’ by shoegaze-pop newcomers Tiles, and a soulful track titled ‘Water the Plants’ by Siberian Tiger, a recent project by music stalwarts Bree Tanner (The Middle East) and Chris Panousakis (Timberwolf).

Emma says although both these songs are different sonically, there’s harmony between them. “And they have similar themes,” she says.

“They both have themes about self-care, as one’s about us spending the night in, looking after yourself, and the other one’s just about small wins, and the idea of just hanging out with your plants when you’re not feeling well or when you’re depressed.

“They felt like a great place to start, just given the nature of where the idea came from and when it started.”

The project has been a long time in the making – the duo had been kicking around the idea for a while, but iso presented the ideal opportunity. It was made possible through the South Australian Music Development Office grant program.

The Singles Club isn’t just beneficial for the listener. The project was also designed to help cash-strapped musos release their music in a tangible, physical format.

“For a lot of artists, having vinyl or having a record is something that can be out of reach [as] manufacturing is quite expensive,” Emma says.

“This product is also going to be a bit of a special item – there’s only going to be a small run of these. There’s only going to be 150 in total that we’re going to sell, and they’re all going to be hand-numbered, on coloured vinyl.”

PTR Singles Club’s volume one release. This picture: Supplied

The sleeve art was designed by local artist Luku Kukuku, with the artwork capturing “a bit of a [COVID-19] mood,” Emma says.

Part Time Records launched the Singles Club project in September and the uptake has already proved promising, with people across the country signing up.

“I just didn’t expect complete strangers to buy into this thing and to trust us without telling them what they’re going to hear,” Emma laughs.

“They’re just going ‘Take my money. I trust you.’”