Wyrd Psearch

English post-punk band the Pheromoans capture a precise mood on their album Wyrd Psearch, one of quiet dissatisfaction and a dry, restless feeling somewhere between melancholy and frustration. Its not exactly punk rock angst or indie pop introversion, but a meditative state that calls on both. Wyrd Psearch is the bands 13th full-length, arriving after almost 20 years of development thats seen them exploring ragged garage punk as well as experiments with minimal electronics and spoken word delivery over form-eluding noise. There are bits of these past leanings included here as well, in particular on "Father Austin," a tune with an instrumental built around blurry FM synthesizer sounds and repetitive guitar lines that serve as a foundation for vocalist Russell Walkers understated mumbling. The song has echoes of Prefab Sprout, the Fall, and the Swell Maps all at once, and its one of the smoother moments on the album. Standout tracks like "Downtown" and "Faith in the Future" are a little more driving and dissonant, evoking the kind of cloudy emotional vagueness that Josef K or June Brides excelled at, but using uncomfortable guitars and hesitating bass lines to push the songs forward. Some of the best parts of these songs happen when its unclear if all the bandmembers have completely figured out their parts. The albums range is wide but subtle, never breaking out into full-power rocking, which makes the odd lounge pop of "Compound Shock" or the surf-toned "The Inland Road" stand out less from relative ragers like "Twibbon Wife." While Wyrd Psearch can be distant to the point of deadpan, its also a display of deeply thoughtful songwriting that emotes powerfully in spite of itself. ~ Fred Thomas