Whipsmart, clever, caustic, wonderfully crafted post-punk? It must be the return of the Brooklyn five-piece fronted by the charismatic, funny and fierce Lydia Gammill with another selection of excellent, angular numbers. It’s a tight band combination which continues to entertain, especially in a live setting, with the sharp guitars of Vram Kherlopian, the Talking Heads-style backline of Tine Hill and Melissa Lucciola, and the eccentric sounds of Tarra Thiessen on a deep voicebox effect as an echo backing vocal, with added random squeaky toys and percussion. But it’s Gammill whose charisma particularly stands out, especially on the single Close, a superbly catchy, taunting, angry love song poking at whether or not the other party was really into them or not, a song that could be LCD Soundsystem number at James Murphy’s very best. Short snappy opener Statue is a funny parody of performance band-audience dynamics (“I project my way to the center of the stage … And oh! The Statues! They’re alarming!”). Other punchy standouts include What Does It Mean, Starting and Starting, Weighing Me Down, the relentless tenacity of the slower Velvet Underground-ish Here Hair which builds and builds (with fabulous video), or oddball melancholy sound of Happiest Thought. Of course there’s more here to find and enjoy. Fabulously energetic, eccentric, restless, angry, inventive and darkly humorous. Out now on Royal Mountain Records.
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