This keyboard-infused hum laced with angular bullet-train guitar riffs and twisty, jazz-infused drumming is wrapped up with the burning rocket fuel vocals of Nouela O. Johnston. Her pipes are a wailing beauty blend of all the right parts of Poly Styrene… early Bjork…Fiona Apple at her weirdest and the few good parts of Gwen Stefani.
Real Vampires is 5 tracks of a serious career being birthed.
”R.V.D.G.S” bleats out with a psycho-drone, crazy-ass, vacuum cleaner guitar interplaying with the keyboards. Short, hard and all business.
“Up Circle” is devoid of any sort of blues-based rock, but yet unbelievably catchy; hook after hook, driving guitar, super stick-in-your-head vocals and harmonies, and tight drum parts from David Haasi.
“Orcs Don’ Know It” slinks out of the gate on an eerie, gentle guitar quickly doubled by the keyboards, which then morphs to a jazzy Sabbath / Mr. Bungle feel. The howling at the moon vocals are FABULOUS!!!!
The open riffing on “Bunch of Brocolli” reminded me of Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” if it were reinterpreted by Devo. Kyle Swisher creates a wall-of-death guitar that I’m sure must rattle fillings at Mon Frere live shows.
“Real Ultimate Power” is a rigid chunk of bleed, with swirling keyboards and a punchy chopped chorus.
I have not mentioned the lyrics, as it just doesn’t matter. I couldn’t understand most of it… just the same as the Birthday Party and the Sugarcubes.
Mount Lake Terrace, Washington’s Mon Frere give you 13:33 minutes of stunning music with no fat and no BS… exactly how it’s supposed to be done. These people are not meant to have day jobs.
