Abandcalledboy - www.Com PC World
Info: Belfast experimental rock outfit Abandcalledboy return with their third E.P., www.Com PC World, a title which is sure to wreak havoc with Google's webcrawlers as they navigate their way through the back-end of Irish music websites over the next few weeks. Following on from last years self-titled 7-track E.P., this time we're treated to a shorter recording of three songs, but it's quality over quantity and in my opinion a noticeable sea-change in their music.
Opening track 'Pure Nostalgia' is familiar Abandcalledboy territory, with lead singer Ryan Burrowes' unmistakable vocal marching in tandem with droning guitar riffs and ever-building rhythmic drums. It's about a minute and a half into 'Renaissance Man' that something unexpected happens, the music collapses from a height and falls neatly together, something sounds different. Yes the power and distortion of Abandcalledboy is still there but the mood feels at odds with previous material, it's a cliché for sure, and I wouldn't call it growth or confidence, but the music enters seriously solid ground on this track, in a 'been around the block and here you are' kind of way. Even the outro to 'Renaissance Man' is unchartered territory for the group stylistically and it gives you pause for thought rather than just going with the flow as you might on a 3 minute rock powerhouse.
Opening track 'Pure Nostalgia' is familiar Abandcalledboy territory, with lead singer Ryan Burrowes' unmistakable vocal marching in tandem with droning guitar riffs and ever-building rhythmic drums. It's about a minute and a half into 'Renaissance Man' that something unexpected happens, the music collapses from a height and falls neatly together, something sounds different. Yes the power and distortion of Abandcalledboy is still there but the mood feels at odds with previous material, it's a cliché for sure, and I wouldn't call it growth or confidence, but the music enters seriously solid ground on this track, in a 'been around the block and here you are' kind of way. Even the outro to 'Renaissance Man' is unchartered territory for the group stylistically and it gives you pause for thought rather than just going with the flow as you might on a 3 minute rock powerhouse.
No time to digest these thoughts and you're straight into the whirlwind of 'Choke', a hugely impressive raising of the bar by the four-piece. I've long had a soft spot for the first track of theirs that I heard, 'Cliff Richard', and up until now it was my favourite ABCB number, bittersweetly that is no longer the case. 'Choke' appeals to a wide range of indie and rock tastes I possess, from it's In It For The Money Supergrass intro, to the raucous percussion and incessant guitar riffs, the pace is steady, there's QOTSA, Idlewild, and a highly appealing interlude just after the half-way point. As a whole these three tracks together fittingly provide a start-middle-end (but not the end, the beginning, again!) of Abandcalledboy's career to date, for fans of rock music, shit just got real.
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