Anton Mink: Outside The Lines

By RingMaster Review on March 29, 2012 • ( 0 )

Anton Mink is a band that wraps itself around the ear like a balmy summer night, their sounds a sultry and sexy mesmeric pleasure that teases and inflames leaving one a little bit sweaty and more than a touch excited. Their latest album Outside The Lines is a temptress, a wanton fusion of sirenesque melodies and vibrant warmth borne from sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. It leaves one with a glow, an inner tingle that can only be appeased by diving right back into the refreshing light and hazy sounds that caused the problem in the first place.

Already previously hooked by the track Beer On The Floor, a song repeatedly on a consistent rotation here the prospect of reviewing the album unleashed an impatient anticipation and eagerness before it even found its way into the ear. Outside The Lines does not disappoint as the ten songs within offer a varied and completely rewarding treat for the senses. From the opener through to the closing notes the album is a fiesta for the heart and a mischievous pleasure for the soul.

Louisville, Kentucky quartet Anton Mink came to be when punk bassist Curtis Flame (Anton Z) started a project to combine distinct creativity and individuality. An initial advert in a local paper led the talented electronic inspired singer Chloa and her wonderfully unique vocals to answer his call, and already the band taking an inventive form. After a harder search the duo found a drummer off a post on a music shop wall and guitarist Andy Jack via an ad in a local school of music. A small tour followed as well as their self titled debut album in 2007. With the follow up Outside The Lines unveiled in the latter months of last year and a new drummer in Clinton added through craiglist, Anton Mink are set to make a striking and naughty mark during 2012 with the album taking the lead.

The album opens with Watchman, colourful melodic notes spotting the ear as drums hustle eagerly in preparation for the glory ahead. Flame’s bass pulsates with a beckoning glee whilst the jazzy play of Jack dazzles without blinding. Immediately Chloa joins all attention veers towards her enthused and distinctive tones. She offers a teasing vibrancy and intriguing delivery that captivates and leads one by the hand like a seductress. The quality of the songwriting allows her to shine, hard to stop really but uses her irrepressible style as a focus to wrap its equally inventive and infectious ingenuity around.

Shysty swaggers in next moving from the jazz funk leanings of its predecessor into a rock n roll based song with a soulful feel to it that blends perfectly with the keen stomp that veins the track. The song is like that legendary tart with a heart, its flow enticing like an exotic dancer and its emotion touching.

As mentioned the sounds are diverse and unpredictable, the likes of the excellent classic progressive rock/pink spiced My God which gives a thought of this is how The Pixies would have sounded if around in the late sixties, Pristine Chapel with its southern rock/country infusion, and the sizzling burn up of Volcanic Vacation where the band venture into the harder electrified rock of a Blood Ceremony, all offering something strikingly different and fully compulsive.

The best moments on the album lie side by side starting with the delicious Chronic with its reggae/Caribbean driven flourishes and hypnotic pulse beat. With Chloa adding an extra lit to her irresistible vocals so she reminds a little of Asa, the song is a hot cruise for the heart, a party to revel in, and an addiction impossible not to be hooked by. This is followed by the previously mentioned Beer On The Floor, a lustful song of drunken mischief with a tinge of regret but at the same time musically sounding quite proud of itself despite the words Chloa expresses, she cannot fool us.

Outside The Lines is pure pleasure from start to finish, an unassuming release that inspires and offers something new persistently. If you have not heard of Anton Mink, start right here and be prepared for that cold shower you might need right after.

http://antonmink.com/

RingMaster 29/03/2012