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CATE LE BON CRAB DAY
Adrienne
Tis album buffets the listener about a tumultuous sea, which Cate le Bon tells us ‘mocks us with its magnitude’. Te album is a bizarre holiday (not a holiday at all), a carnivalesque celebration of the coming of Crab Day – whatever that might be. We are greeted with the title track Crab Day:heavy beating guitar, a march, with interludes of the ghostly vocals we recognise from earlier albums (but a little less sweet). Te piece moves in motions – the first three songs act as a surreal, manic-depressive exposition - we are invited in. “Sing your soul to me on Crab Day”. Te next wave takes us deeper. We walk into Cate’s house in Find Meand I’m a Dirty Attic. It is filled with ghosts: “paint me in a picture with a new face, I’m a body of dreams.” In We Might Revolve, we hear the post punk of prior albums. Te ‘revolving’ of this song links back to the ‘rotation’ of the upbeat psych- folk single from earlier, Wonderful: the album is a see-saw. Yellow Blinds, Cream Shadowschanges the colour pallet from haunted house to gentle sunrays. Tis and the following two songs lead us out of the house. Te album ends with What’s Not Mine, which beautifully melds together the harmony and discord of the album.
EAGULLS ULLAGES
Lawrence
Ullages follows Eagulls 2014 self-titled album. Where the first record pummels you into willing submission, number two coerces you to the same end, painting a bleak yet compelling portrait of day to day occurrences from the viewpoint of lead singer George Mitchell. Each song feels like a fleeting encounter separate from the other, yet part of some greater whole. Te songs grab hold of you before you’ve processed the heavy lyrical content, see White Lie Lullabies‘ “fracture our skulls off the dashboards of stale Sunday Nights just to silence Monday’s cries”. Shoegaze stylings and soaring melodies keep at bay this tide of gloominess first demonstrated on album number one. Early big hitters including the lyrically strikingEuphoriaand lament- like Velvetare followed latterly in the album by the brilliant Skipping, and Lemontrees which is reminiscent of Te Cure. Tis album wouldn’t be out of place in the ‘80’s post punk scene and demonstrates Eagulls' outstanding musicianship. Tough not all songs quite reach these highs, it’s refreshing to hear a band push themselves. In Ullages the band have created something sonically different to their earlier material, whilst keeping their identity with its atmospheric similarity. Tis is some essential listening from an increasingly important band.
BAD BREEDING BAD BREEDING
Stuart
I have been lucky enough to see Bad Breeding play live twice, and the sheer brutality of their music, the utter abandon in the way in which they performed it and the apparent lack of concern for what the audience thought made it beyond thrilling. Tis self-titled album is everything that has gone before, but better. Strivebelches forth in a squall of feedback and rage filled lyrics. A Limp Shoveopens out the sound a little, and Remembering is a highlight, Ashleigh Bennet’s drums sounding cacophonous with Matt Toll’s guitar barely managing to contain itself. No Progress with its refrain of “WHY SHOULD I ACCEPT NO PROGRESS” is another punch to the head. What has impressed me most about this album is how more and more sounds are opened up to me. Tis is not just a blast of unlistenable anger from start to finish. Tis is carefully crafted music, revealing the influences behind it but sounding resolutely original. Corrupting Fist is the best song I’ve heard this year, Dissemblingis perfect musical alchemy in two minutes and Blurring Out ends the album with some relentless hardcore. For a band still so young this album is a monumental achievement. I haven’t been this excited about a new band for a very long time.
36 / May 2016/
outlineonline.co.uk
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