Manuals - In A Clean, Well Lighted Place - Tape (2014)

Labels: Get Into It Records
Review by: MH

This is another band I’ve wanted to check out having seen them listed on lineups of other UK bands I like and they have now got around to recording a couple of songs on this tape that Get Into It Records are putting out. This is good news for me seeing as I’ve moved to the other side of the planet and probably won’t be able to see them live anytime soon. On to the music: this is riffy, buildy stuff with lots of crashing around from a Leeds duo. Time was I would be rolling out some tired line about how “they make a lot of noise considering there is only two of them” but there appears to be an ever-increasing of noisy duos appearing lately so I won’t be doing that. The title track is mid-paced with lingering vocals that are not quite shouted and buried a little in the mix – not too deep though. It kind of plods along but combines that with crashing riffs along the way as it changes pace and tack frequently. The vocals on “A Room Of Our Own” are much more angry and yelled at the start and it then reverts to a more delicate post-rocky part before the guitar and drums crash back in and it lurches up and down again. I like the way this one collapses into a load of feedback and a barely comprehensible and effects-laden voice-over sample towards the end. Good work in getting these songs available. Very keen to hear more too as this is a great start.