Friday, December 26, 2014

Terminus Cursus – 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

November 26, 2014 • Bridgetown Records

More good stuff from the always-on-top Bridgetown Records today: another little-known but well-deserving band with a new EP out delivering a neat take on rock that, while not perfect, shows a lot of promise.

The EP starts off as something like minimalist psychedelic post-punk—simplistic drum patterns, wailing electric guitar, wavering warbly anguished vocals, all drenched in a thick, sopping blanket of reverberation. As the songs go by, they transform from something a bit Joy Division-esque to add a bit of Wire, and we eventually wind up in this weird land of freakout-punk before heading back to where we started, more or less. It's a weird ride and, although it's a short one at only five songs, it's still pretty interesting and Terminus Cursus shows they have a nicely diverse set of skills to show off.

On the whole, there's some of 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 I like and some I don't. They do have a really good handle on balancing the faster / punkier songs with the slower post-punk ones; at no point does the EP feel very repetitive or rehashed. (Of course, it's not very long either, so that helps.) On the other hand, their actual production style feels a bit uncomfortable—particularly the bizarre vocals, which often have the weird warbly effect on them I mentioned earlier. I guess it kind of fits the overall aesthetic and it is a pretty unique element, but I am not really a fan.

On the whole, though, I think this EP is pretty neat. At the very least, it's definitely something different which is good enough for me. Looking forward to the next output from this band.

No comments:

Post a Comment