Useless Coordinates

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 00:29:26
On their early EPs and singles, Drahla showed a knack for balancing the fiery, confrontational side of no wave with the detachment of classic British post-punk like Wire. Since then, they've grown quickly, and their debut album Useless Coordinates complicates their music in intriguing and increasingly assured ways. They're among the post-punk acts rediscovering the power of a well-deployed saxophone, thanks to the contributions of their longtime friend and collaborator Chris Duffin of XAM Duo and Virginia Wing. Duffin holds his own among Drahla's churning attack, and his artfully skronky sax elevates "Serenity" and "React/Revolt," a rangy track that puts the band through their paces as it lumbers, skulks, and races to its climax. Drahla's other not-so-secret weapon is singer/guitarist Luciel Brown's deadpan singing style. The vocal equivalent of a Rorschach blot, the slightest change in her delivery speaks volumes. On the jagged "Stimulus for Living," the subtle shifts when she repeats "It feels fine" are just as defiant -- and more interesting -- than a typical punk sneer. She's the eye of the storm on "Gilded Cloud," where her near-monotone recitation of non sequiturs like "string of pearls around your neck/gilded cloud in a plasticine sunset" adds to the track's surreality. Some of Useless Coordinates' finest moments appear near the end of the album: "Twelve Dimensions of the Day" is equally hypnotic and insistent, with unison vocals from Brown and bassist Rob Riggs that add an extra dose of strangeness to the proceedings. Similarly, their call-and-response interplay on "Unwound" is another example of how skillfully they channel their avant-garde influences into pop structures. Elsewhere, Drahla display an impressive flair for creating complex moods in just a handful of minutes. "Serotonin Level" teeters somewhere between anxious and sleazy as it hurtles along with Duffin's big, buzzing sax trailing in its wake, while "Invisible Sex"'s paranoid lyrics are almost disguised by Brown's cooing voice and dreamy guitars. A more-than-promising debut, Useless Coordinates makes good on the potential of Drahla's previous work and suggests they're not done evolving. ~ Heather Phares