The quartet from Manchester, founded by Valentine Caulfield and Scott Fair, now joined by Simon Catling and Alex MacDougall, have a hell of a blistering debut here. It’s experimental music which feels like being driven blindfolded to unknown territory.
‘ Pinking Shears’ is brittle and fuzzy, and there’s minimalist industrial shades to ‘Injury Detail’. This is one side of their sound- ‘The Driving Rain (18)’ is spectral funk. The otherness of the band’s sound is further reinforced by Caulfield who murmurs in French, even as the sonics threaten to implode.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8I7JGpeI-E
It’s quite a statement of intent for a first album. Others would cower from creating such difficult, un-hooky music, but the band have chutzpah as well as ideas. With each listen, songs grow insidiously. It bodes well for the future, a band who don’t wish to follow the current indie herd of postpunk Fall wannabes.
Released via Fire Talk Records on May 19th
Hit The North 