Bad Luck Party « The RingMaster Review

“Miss June demand attention”

These words leap out at the end of the band’s biography and the fact that the likes of The Foo Fighters, Shellac, Wolf Alice, Idles and Die! Die! Die! have all grabbed New Zealand hailing Miss June as support on stage is strong evidence. Even stronger confirmation of their declaration comes with debut album, Bad Luck Party, a collection of songs impossible to ignore which make no apology in their virulent contagion and rousing insistence.

Released on the eve of their world-wide Bad Luck Party Tour, the album is a persistently boisterous and often belligerent stomp of punk rock bred, pop fuelled rock ‘n’ roll honed into eleven tracks which effortlessly captivated. To be honest the band’s sound is far richer and animated than that description suggests, each song additionally holding mischief, defiance, and energy in their hearts.

Twitch kicks the album off, a controlled squall of guitar its introduction before a swift addition of swinging beats adds to the immediate fuzz soaked temptation, the song quickly hitting its infectious stride. As the guitars of Annabel Liddell and Jun Cheul Park unite in their scuzz coated virulence, the former’s magnetic tones dance in ears, a smile accompanying every syllable shared. There is something akin to Blood Red Shoes meets Sonic Youth to the temptation exuding from the speakers though already there is no mistaking it is a proposition individual to its creators.

An attention grabbing start it is only eclipsed by the following Best Girl. From its first breath the song nags ears, its stroll more of a march on the imagination as hooks and rhythms toy with the listener. A great confrontational edge lines Liddell’s delivery, the same tone infesting the devilry of guitars and the irresistible persistent nagging of Tom Leggett’s beats courted by the similarly compelling and brooding bassline cast by Chris Marshall.

Then from one major highlight of the album to another with Two Hits which instantly dived under the skin as the rapid fire vocal exuberance of Liddell rides the boisterous roll of Leggett’s rhythms. It is the trigger to an irresistible surge of garage infested pop punk, every element an insatiable incitement finding no defence to its irreverent virulence before Anomaly calms things down with its melodic swing and seductive charm. It is a mellow breeze of sound yet carrying volatility in its breath which erupts in squalls of sonic flame and rhythmic rapacity.

Similarly Orchid shares tranquillity prone to incendiary eruptions, vocals and melodies respectful caresses on senses subsequently scorched by the track while Double Negative from its Young Marble Giants-esque post punk elegance erupts in a fire of rapacious shadows and dark moods. Though unique in their character and bodies, there is a matching beauty to both which beguiles and in the second haunts for a fascinating crepuscular seduction.

Each track within Bad Luck Party brings an individual experience amidst a web of intrigue, the predacious Enemies with its compulsive noise punk voracity and the sonically discord soaked Aquarium further rousing evidence. The latter is as psychotic as it is hungrily catchy, the guitars and vocals alone gluttonous temptation while its successor, Scorpio, with its pop loaded canter and hook ridden antics had swift subservience in its hands like a devious temptress.

The final pair of the punk rock spawned, truculence fuelled Please Waste My Time and Polio with its initial leaden crawl leading to an irritable post punk tempest simply brought further magnetic faces to the kaleidoscopic personality of Bad Luck Party. The first was an immediate infestation of ears and appetite the second a longer persuasion but both wholly compelling and thrilling proposals just as the album itself; another of the year’s true highlights.

Bad Luck Party is out now via Frenchkiss Records.