Damn, this is good stuff. Two guys and two girls doing some fairly unique hardcore/punk that comes off as far more memorable than I would've anticipated. There's a good deal of early punk/rock 'n' roll styled action involved, but it's a lot more interesting than the vast majority of bands playing that style, keeping things moody with some nice little dissonant melodies. Some of the chord progressions are pretty straightforward, and others are pretty atypical for this style, and they throw in lots of caustic little lead bursts as well. The lead vocals are a mix between a sort of yelled female singing and a more straight up singing voice, with some deeper shouted backups on occasion. "Deus ex Machina" is a lot slower and uses smoother singing in large part, standing out as a result, and in addition to some more openly melodic riffing that still retains that bleak edge; "Lost Causes" is among the more straightforward and consistent tracks; "To Whom it May Concern" has a lot of winding basslines and strangely melodic foreground guitar runs; "Emergency Broadcast" is among the tracks that speeds things up a little during certain passages; and "Eulogy" is built solely around vocals and guitar, which definitely changes things up to close the disc (there's a brief unlisted acoustic instrumental afterwards as well). No song hits three minutes, and really most of the paces are pretty moderate, so it's a pretty interesting mix, and it's great that they pull it off so well. The recording sounds a little dated, probably intentionally, and I dig it because the mix is solid and all of the tones fit. Clearly it's not polished, but it doesn't need to be. It's clear and every instrument plays a role, so I see no reason why any aspect should change. The layout blends minimal colors with bleak illustrations and high contrast imagery for a classic punk sort of look, including handwritten and worn typewriter text. The lyrics are brief and make their point without beating you over the head: "Knock me out put me down drag me to the floor, I do these things to myself so I can feel no more, No doubt I'm not far from breaking, Can't you see my smile has been fading, I'm lost in an empty room and the doors locked from the outside." I really like this, and they're easily one of the most original sounding bands out there right now. They've got a good mix of old and new influences working in their favor and I dig the atmosphere of the music. I wish there was slightly more tempo variation or something, but it's not a big deal. Definitely worth checking out.
[Prank]
Running time - 28:02, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Blueprint for Babylon, Lost Causes, To Whom it May Concern, Emergency Broadcast]
Prank Records - http://www.prankrecords.com
