angeltape

デビューアルバムが話題となったサウスロンドンのポストパンクバンドDrahla。5年ぶりとなる新作はダイナミックながらも実験的なアート・パンクへと昇華させたアルバムを完成させました。さらなる飛躍が期待されるバンド。

Drahla impressed with Useless Coordinates, a debut album with a title that reflected how unmoored they were when they recorded its careening experiments. On angeltape, they embody a sense of being overwhelmed even more eloquently by doubling down on the improvisatory post-punk and no wave that made their first album so bracing. Adding second guitarist Ewan Barr to the fold lets Drahla mine even more expression from their jagged rhythms and confrontational attack; along with Facs and PVA, theyre among the handful of 2020s post-punk bands who are as inspired by the freedom the style offers as by its enduring cool. XAM Duos Chris Duffin is just as valuable a collaborator as he was on Useless Coordinates, whether his wailing saxophone adds to the fray on "Under the Glass" or his tape loops give some air to the "Talking Radiance"s metallic sparkle. Luciel Brown remains one of the most agile vocalists within this generation of post-punk acts, and though her breathy, alternately spoken and sung delivery might seem too light to hold its own among the churn of songs like "Second Rhythm," her voice skips around the heaving guitars and rhythms with ease. While its tempting to call Drahlas music chaotic because of its furious intensity, its more artfully assembled than ever on angeltape. Hearing each element of their music take a different path within the exploratory, elastic structures of songs such as "Concrete Lily" is a thrill; on "Default Parody" and "Grief in Phantasia," the bands gnarled interplay conveys the loss and trauma that called the album into being. Even though they lighten the mood ever so slightly with "Lip Sync," a collage of detached vocals and lurching blasts thats the closest theyve come to a pop song, every moment of angeltape announces Drahla as a band worthy of far more attention. ~ Heather Phares