Labels: Deranged
Review by: Alex Deller
Think this may well be last orders from Portland’s Observers, which is a damn shame whichever way you look at it. These two belters come at you with all the zeal and vitality you’d expect, lodging themselves firmly in your head and refusing to share the space with anything else. The almost playful sing-song nature of Where I Stay belies the dangerous jaggedness of the guitars beneath as the tune zips by, sliding a switchblade between your ribs and lifting your wallet while you smile on like a whey-faced goon. Side B isn’t quite so frantic but shares the same impeccable calibre, lording it up with some soaring vocal overlaps and the kind of ooh-ooh-ooh gang back-ups that simply cannot fail to sucker you in, drawn like some deepwater denizen by the dangling fluorescent bauble above the angler fish’s gruesome maw. The result is sharp, snappy punk rock that’s almost too smart for its own damn good “” best buy a couple because you’ll be flipping the bastard over until the vinyl wears thin”¦