Labels: Punk Fox
Review by: Alex Hannan
NERVOUS TWITCH’s latest 7″ offers three quite distinct-sounding tunes which draw on classic Americanisms like blues, surf, and rock’n’roll, but filter them through a blasé English indie-pop sensibility. In opener “I’m sorry that I made you cry” a Buddy Holly-ish guitar intro leads into bouncy indie pop with a simple but effective two guitar arrangement and lots of wiry, melodic guitar leads – folks that are that way inclined will be dancing the jitterbug round their room. The vocals are a slight drawback on this tune, as the delivery is quite flat and short-breathed. It would be good to hear the syllables and phrases drawn out and attacked more. I wouldn’t be accepting this particular apology unless it was delivered a little more passionately. “East coast rumble” is an instrumental, drawing on twelve-bar blues and surfy guitar, a brief genre exercise that works well as a palate cleanser on their LP but here seems like filler.
It’s sunglasses after dark time on the flip side as “A little self discipline” draws from the CRAMPS playbook, all skeletal, reverbed guitar slithers. It’s hard to imagine Lux Interior delivering lines as earnest as “I try hard just to do the right thing / All I need is a little self discipline,” or “I’m not looking for something to do / I just wanna hang out with you” – yet Erin’s vocal delivery here is more hard-edged and double-tracked for emphasis, and the combination is a winner.
After a few spins of their album “Don’t take my TV”, I’d say I find NERVOUS TWITCH more appealing in that format. All the songs on the 7″ appear on the LP, and over the long form their different stylistic borrowings are fleshed out into a fuller picture – their easygoing charm accumulates over the course of 11 tracks, leaving a more convincing impression than on this brief taster.