This Ohio-based band was recommended to me by one of the guys from Swan Wash, who has been pretty obsessed with this album the past decade, and now their 2014 is being reissued, so let's get into it. It's intersting how ahead of their time they were and shows how fragile the spinning wheel of music trends is. These guys delve into a dark, smoky New Orleans back Alley to bring you simmering, slinky post-punk that is not too far removed from what bands like Crippling Alcoholism and Protomartyr are doing now. There is the percussive churn of a voodoo ritual, crooned over as a sax while it sings its sorrows from the shadows.
The first two songs establish that they have a sound they are confident in; the rest of the album is going to tell me if they are writing songs with that same swagger."Black Tar" finds a creepier atmosphere slithering in, with femal vocals echoing from the distance. If this came out of New Orleans, I would be less surprised by how this is unfolding. "Grace" is the first song where the ambiance breaks down into more free-form jazz, like Nick Cave getting stoned and jamming out. More traditional goth leanins peek out a bit on "King of the Lake". It is pretty effective at keeping the album's dynamics varied.
"Jail House" creeps around in a more jammed fashion; the vocals are noncommittal and lurk in the background with a spectral croon. The sax seeps up from under it all. Marginally trip-hoppy. "Two or One" is a little more abstract and finds the jazz elements being more dominant. The last song also goes off in this jazz direction, making it more Nick Cave-leaning with its murky noir shadows. I will givve this a 9, if you like dark music with jazz undercurrents, this is worth your time
