Just getting around to catching up with some of the darker sounds I might have missed earlier in the year. The third album by this band from Belgium is one of those. The androgynous vocals narrative this angular indie rock that colors the sounds in stark shades of gray. Like a more jangling version of Savages, the grooves they flirt with are rather taunt. This album sounds great everything sits at a perfect place in the mix, showing these guys took their time to nail these sounds down. They are not a post-punk band that is content with just paying tribute to Joy Division, which is something I appreciate, though this is not to say it is totally devoid of that influence.
The drummer is the most eager member of this band, he tries to rock out even if the rest of the band is trying to play it cool. They could pay more attention to their drummer's punk aspirations as some of the songs are droned out or allowed to sprawl out further than needed. There are moments like "Cold City' when things hit the mark and are not overdone. I can hear some Nick Cave moments in how the vocals muse over the music. This pays off in varied levels of success. If the drums do not play a large role in the song's backbone when they are wasting their time. The indifferent tone of the vocals as the album progresses does not do the song any favors. It causes things to begin to sound the same. With "Dragging" the guitar kicks in to try to balance this out. Yet the one-dimensional vocal chant dampens the impact the lyrics could have had.
The production of this album places emphasis on creating very organic sounds. But some of them are too dry, mainly the vocals which could use some reverb and perhaps sit back against the guitars. The bass and drums sound the best, the guitars could also use some effects. The sing-song quality of the almost spoken vocals continues to drone on. I appreciate the mood created on "Sill Disappearing" but dynamically the song does not go anywhere. I have never been into Wire, but the guitar player for this band is as you can hear on "The Talker". "Balm" sounds like an interluder rapper Atmosphere might do if he got too high. When trying to pay homage to Nick Cave it's important to remember he actually sings. Perhaps with a better singer, these songs might fare better, but it is what it is It's a shame as they attempt to have more dynamics on "Poor Girl" but going from a whisper to a more direct conversational tone is not singing.
"Loose Ends" has a more interesting bass line, which allows the guitar to create more tension. Then they drop the ball on the chorus, but there is not much they can do with this singer. When they drop things down to a synth sound, it's minimalist, and the spoken word vocals are just as redundant as they have been for the duration of the album. They attempt to rock to rock out more on the last song, but the problem remains the same, even as they try to get darker, he band makes an honest attempt musically, but the vocals just are lacking I will give this album a 7.
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