Labels: Static Shock
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I wrote this review before, but I don’t know what happened to it. Such is life.
I like it when a band sounds like their art work. Hygiene sound just like that. Their art work is a bleak, initially disheartening photograph of town center life which would at a guess be from 30ish years ago. At the end of a labour government and before the dawning of Thatcher. It’s weird how a band can sound like that, but they do. This is stark, gritty post punk, it makes no real effort to summon up a melody but is happy to scratch out a vague tune and drawl out of tune words over the top. There is a little distortion in the louder parts and all these elements slot together nicely to evoke a sound that feels ripe for return, given that we’re tottering on the brink of a new and potentially lengthy tory reign. My favourite song may be “MRSA” which has a killer, bubbling bass line winding along under the monotone vocals before it bursts into a lurching chorus. It sounds wisely paranoid. Also, the riffs right at the start of “Disseration” are well Indian Summer (ok, Mission of Burma, if you’re being picky). “I’m bored! I’m bored bored bored, so damn bored”. The vocals sound it. The song doesn’t.
This is a better review than my other one. And this is a really good seven inch.