Labels: Euphrate
Review by: Matt Thomas
This is available on the band’s website so you might as well go and get it. If you’re at all interested in these guys then you probably already have it. But if you aren’t and you don’t, give it a whirl. It won’t cost you anything.
All the usual Billy Mahonie traits are played out across these 4 tracks. Motorik, krautrock drumming with jazzy overtones rubs up against melodic bass with a DnB tip. There are nice, unexpected harmonics and really deft little runs up in the higher register going on here. Churning guitars seesaw up and down, with precise slide-work and squirty electronic stutters punctuating the phrases. There’s a lot more interplay between the lines than on The Big Dig, forming jarring three part harmonies at times vaguely reminiscent of Nought’s more laid back moments. “Sleeping in Feathers” is most like the BM of old, a deceptive little lullaby colliding with a whole heap of different dynamics, but the rest of this cut hints at a more muscular philosophy than before.
That being said, at times this really does feel like a stopgap release especially with the internet distro and some of the ideas are a little sketchy. However, if their recent Audioscope performance is anything to go by, they’ll get it bang on next time.