Labels: Barely Regal – Kingfisher Bluez – sncl – time as a color
Review by: MH
“Amour-propre” from Dym’s demo last year was a stunning piece of 90s-esque emo that quickly grabbed my attention. 18 months or so later and we have their first vinyl release. The opening track here is kind of in two parts, it’s named in two parts too (“four/Bi-gone”) – the first one is slow and menacing – everything is on edge with solemn, spoken vocals that are barely audible giving way to a more desperate and urgent yell. The ghost of Slint is prevalent early on in this record. As the first part of the track comes to an end, the second half opens and turns the track into a bit of a groover. The songs have a wobbly, claustrophobic feel with those vocals combining with string bends and repeated grooves. It’s the contrast in the tensions and the vocals that really makes a lot of what is going on here, turning up the urgency and reining it back in. An underlying menace features heavily throughout and simmers beneath in “web held over/under” before its controlled explosion towards the end. The tension is relieved a little by the instrumental “evil I be done” which is sparse and minimal before “hermitage” loads it up again. There is plenty of the likes of Kolya and June of 44 to the sound – vocally, in particular, with the talky side but also in the intensity. It’s possible I haven’t been paying enough attention lately but I feel like it’s been a quiet year on the UK emo front so it’s great to hear an active band sounding like this and nailing their sound.