Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea
What's There To Write About?DOWNLOAD
They've been releasing records since 2009, when they first put out A Small Version of a Party but until the last 6 months, have so far kept a relatively low profile. At the end of last year local monthly music (and more) bible Source Magazine featured One Hundred Yards Into The Desert from the band's (also free d/l) It's The Falling That Counts, Not The Landing album in their songs of 2010 writers chart, and they have also been garnering praise from all ove the UK. They follow in the footsteps of fellow Brightonian based wielders of angular punk dissonance such as Charlottefield, Everyone To The Anderson, Ack Ack Ack, Zettesaur, Illness, Projections.... That felt good listing off all those bands. This city has bred a good heritage of confrontational guitar bands steeped in the heavy melodies and dirty rush of hardcore, imbuing heavily rhythmic feral rock with an Albini-raw presence, diamond sharp turns and steely hooks and on the strength of this release alone Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea deserve to feature amongst those names.
The tracks on What's There To Write About? rarely last more than three minutes, but each manages to squeeze a dynamic shape into its abrasive structure; The storms of howling feedback in It's The Same ge lashed down onto a driving rhythm; the spacious reverb guitar line that opens Chances Scattered is suddenly obliterated by dry hoarse throated barks, the way the beat hacks into the spiralling descent of the riff in Hours In The Frame. Across the ten tracks of this album the band drop more headspinning moments of excellence than it would be possible to describe in easily readable sentences, so abrupt and profound the changes in direction - Other Places, Other People features four increasingly head-noddingly potent shifts before two minutes, one of which involves cleanly sung harmonising. It's an attention to songwriting detail that is emphasised further by the unsubtle caustic tones they flick their guitars to when the atmospheres get a little dark and the moods shift from fist in the air to fist in yr face.
The album is free to download now from their Bandcamp, along with several other releases. There will be a physical release bound in recycled book covers on Box Social at the start of May.
Get it on mp3 now, and start saving your pennies for that.
