Ypsi/Arbor rock trio plays PJ's Lager House this Thursday (2/9) with a band coming all the way from Australia.
Guitars will be prominently featured throughout...
Pop songs are pummeled out by this Ypsi/Arbor trio; their charm lying somewhere between those clattered rhythms, the dreamy/dissonance of that reverb-dashed guitar (and, yes, inevitably we have to use the slogany label of “surf
” at least sporadically, here ) or in the wonderful wail of those fiery lead vocals.
On their debut (available on cassette), they’re already showing a fine sense of balancing a raw, snarling shred (call it punk, call it shambling lo-fi, call it what you will) with these warmer elements, guitar tones as vibrant as a blood-orange-setting sun dazzlingly setting the sky ablaze and the simple hooks and strutting rhythms of seminal early 60s pop/rock that redolently facilitates a song like “Cruising,” musically and nostalgically.
Yeah, there’s some throwbacks here and there, and I could name drop a bunch of iconic bands that I suppose they might sound like, but you’ll get your own picture after your own first listen. It’s exasperating for this writer that you’ll read these words (and maybe take a listen) and think that this is more indie-rock revivalism, preoccupied with reverb and proudly embracing scuffed aesthetics- ...I hear more...
Rampant garage-rock ricochets out of its cement cage and into spaced-out-surf-rock swirls, vocals rail right at you, swooned with echo but singed with a rasp measuredly flaring into cathartic screams at points but bringing it back to melodic, lullabyish musings when its needed. There’s sock-hoppy songs about love but there’s also keyed-up kickers about doom.
The winners are cuts like their theme song: “Chit-Chat,” low end guitar like a chugging motorcycle engine and the lead striking a tinnier timber as it shimmies over that pounding beat, in and out in 90 seconds
Come see what you can't-yet-stream...
Feb 9th – PJs Lager House – 9pm - with Woollen Kits, Carradine & the Bends
