Labels: Starcleaner Records
Review by: Andy Malcolm
The Street Eaters 12″ from not so long ago was a rather over-looked and enjoyable slab of vinyl, so it was nice to hear some new stuff. My memory has faded a touch on what that LP sounded like, but Ashby and Shattuck sounds a little more understated and downbeat than how I remember them. As a two piece you simply get drums, bass and boy+girl vocals. The song is simple, repetitious and post punk in nature, with Megan taking on most of the vocals and Johnny joining the fray here and there. The bass is big and boisterous, and the vocals strong, but the song doesn’t really quite do enough. The other track, “Mother” is similar. The bass sound reminds me of the South for some reason, which makes me want these songs to be more explosive and noisier rather than pared back and ponderous. Things pick up as we move along though, hitting a faster groove for a while which I find rather thrilling.
I like what’s going on here, and I think for the context of a 7″ it works pretty well, but drawing the mid-pace out for longer could lead to the mind wandering.