Reviews

Merchandise
A Corpse Wired for Sound

(4AD)

7/10

‘A Corpse Wired for Sound’ takes its title from a short sci-fi story by JG Ballard. This reference, say the band ex-punk band from Tampa, Florida, alludes to their current fragmented, born-again state (they are now a trio collaborating long-distance). Merchandise is, according to guitarist Dave Vassalotti, a “distended corpse responding to you from both sides of the Atlantic.” This alarming metaphor seems a little extreme for what is, in many respects, an unremarkable record that neither tries nor succeeds to transgress generic conventions. That is to say, I suppose, that there’s nothing shocking about ‘Corpse’, although there are moments of greatness, as the band happily return to their earlier mope-rock sound; namely in the beautiful lingering intros, which seem to cleverly offer a kind of aural reflection on the song to come – especially evident on ‘Lonesome Sound’ and ‘I Will Not Sleep Here’.

There is truth and beauty here, certainly, but it’s a floating, meandering kind of truth that speaks more to the mundane loneliness of the everyday than it does to wired corpses, distended or otherwise.

Free Protomartyr flexi disc with this month's magazine

Subscribers to Loud And Quiet now receive a limited edition flexi disc of a rare track with their copy of the magazine

This month’s disc is from Detroit punk band Protomartyr