Sometimes you just do not know the goodness which is on your doorstep. Recently we had the pleasure of being introduced by one of their numbers to Bridport Dagger, a band which it turned out rehearsed and recorded in their singer’s home studio merely ten minutes away from The RR. Even more enjoyably, the meeting left us with the UK outfit’s new single in our eager hands and the urge to tell you about its rather tasty contents as well as the important message to constantly check out and support your local scene as you never know what treats you may find.
There is not a great deal of info we can tell you about the band except that it consists of vocalist/guitarist Jason Idnani-Powdrill, guitarist Lawrence Rice, bassist/guitarist Chaz Foster, and drummer/keyboardist Arran Goodchild. The quartet draws on the inspirations of artists and flavours such as Suicide, Nadine Shah, Roy Orbison, Guadalupe Plata, Clinic, The Gun Club, Flamenco, Get Your Gun, Fado, Ennio Morricone, and film noir especially the work of Wim Wenders and recently performed in an echo chamber under the river Thames and supplied sound design for a seven day immersive play in Berlin. But their sound you ask…well the most important thing here is a dark and seductive collusion of numerous flavours and textures but is maybe best described as Nick Cave and The Walker Brothers meeting Echo and The Bunnymen on a Tarantino set as Japanese Fighting Fish share their creative devilment. What emerges is something individual and magnetic to Bridport Dagger as epitomised by the double A sided lead of new single Wolves/Trembling Sky.
The single is actually a real meaty chunk as it also includes the band’s previous EP Knife through Water including a re-mastered version of its lead track and a couple of songs from that earlier mentioned soundtrack . The single opens with Wolves and an immediate clash of sound as rhythms and guitars collide. From within the inviting clamour a rumble brews; its tone rockabilly like as the guitars between them wrap a jungle of riffs in a sultry melody as Idnani-Powdrill’s vocals begin the shadowed croon of the song. Already the magnetism is addiction level, the subsequent scythes of guitar compelling across the captivation of bass and beats as the band’s rock ‘n’ roll shares dark flirtation. Every passing second brings a new twist of drama and sound, unpredictability as thick as the imagination flowing through the outstanding encounter.
Its partner, Trembling Sky is instantly a less intense proposition, a psych rock melody dancing over the darker hues of bass and again grumbling riffs. There is a Doors-esque air to the song, a shadowed lining to its lively spirit and bounce, and a sixties instrumental tone to the guitars which only adds to its instinctive attraction. As its predecessor, the song just hits personal wants and tastes full on though at two and a half minutes or so it frustrates when it ends just as lust rises.
The rest of the release starts with tracks found on that previously mentioned EP released last year with a re-worked mix of acclaimed track Harry Dean Stanton first up. As this piece is being composed news has just come through that the actor has died; a sad timing which instantly brings a poignant edge to song and its embrace of ears and focus. The song is a dusty shimmer on the senses, a poetic sigh spiked by shards of glassy guitar and soaked with the serenade of keys; a proposition which is masterfully enthralling from start to finish.
Next up is Cowboy Drone, a track which nags and teases like a menacing mix of The Birthday Party and The Doors that sizes up the listener with every note and breath before taking them through a tombstone littered climate soaked in post punk/psych rock discord and theatre. The track is glorious, a noir drenched drama of sound and voice which thrusts the imagination into the heat of dark trespasses.
Taken from the soundtrack of the Twin Peaks inspired theatre performance Bridport Dagger created the music for, The Dangling Man is one of two original songs it was bookended by, the following Lyra the other. The first is a sombre, almost caliginous play for ears and imagination with vocals and music a shadowy lure and the melodramatic caresses of sax courtesy of George Cleghorn sublimely suggestive while the second is a fifties hued dark ballad with more than a touch of Roy Orbison to its emotional humidity. Both tracks transport the listen to a dark and intoxicating place impossible to resist lingering within.
The livelier rock ‘n’ roll of The Butcher of Rome has hips swaying and appetite dancing, bass and beats alone a rousing shuffle to be enslaved by, a trap tightened by the teasing jangle of guitars, the seductive strokes of keys, and the storytelling prowess of the vocals.
The release is completed by the sweltering emotional drenched spectacle of Wilderness, a song which gets bolder and more psychotic and discordant with every passing minute for a mouth-watering finale of provocative noise and melodic toxicity.
Wolves and Trembling Sky as a single is one of the year’s most riveting experiences on the year so far; add the rest of its treats and you have one of the most essential come its release in October.
Wolves/Trembling Sky is released October 13th.
Upcoming live dates:
21st September: Bethnal Green Working Mens Club, London
29th September: Insomnia, Berlin
8th October: Twin Peaks UK Festival, London
10th October: Half Moon Putney, London
13th October: The Lexington (with the Flaming Stars and Get Your Gun), London
4th November: Paper Dress vintage 4th Birthday Party, London
https://www.facebook.com/bridportdagger https://bridportdagger.bandcamp.com/
Pete RingMaster 16/09/2017
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
The album descends on ears with opener Suicide Generation first of all; one minute and a handful of seconds of clanging rock ‘n roll led by the exasperated tones of frontman Sebastian Melmoth. Every aspect of the track is as muggy as it is concussive but veined by intricate melodic acidity which winds seductively around the fuzzy antics of Emily Crowler’s rhythm guitar. It is a potent, enticing smog of sound swiftly out powered and shone by Why Can’t I Play With You. The second track needs mere seconds to lay down heavy seductive hooks within a similarly intensive weight of sound. A Cramps-esque hue smokes vocals and sound alike, Suicide Generation finding a gripping rawness which even their assumed inspirations would have eagerly embraced as the song flirts and dances with garage rock and punk irritability.
Fusing garage punk and punk rock with fifties rock ‘n’ roll, the Dirty Jane sound prowls ears and psyche like a fusion of The Cramps, The Phantom, Dick Venom and The Terrortones, and Eighteen Nightmares At the Lux; a creative breed of temptation which instantly has ears and appetite inflamed as the single sonically and vocally shatters the silence. Within another breath, rhythms are prowling the senses with a lively almost predacious gait casting catchy menace for Brown to vocally embrace. With insatiable hooks equally grabbing ears all along his guitar’s swarthy grooves, a delicious grumble to Beadsmore’s bass alongside, and the whole of the band courting thick involvement with their vocal roars, the song demands lusty participation, Morris’ tenaciously swinging beats extra incentive.
The EP’s title track is first up, its homage to cult movie gem Evil Dead pure invasive theatre. From its initial piano cursed fingering of the imagination, the track twists into a predacious stroll with infection seeping from every pore. Swinging beats and a heavy rapacious bassline courts the senses whilst a seductively nagging hook teases, Firewalker barging in with his vocal roar as raucously backed by the vociferous tones of Phillips. Dragging the listener into its transfixing hellbound realm prone to caustic expulsions, harrying them with a gloriously plodding prowl, the track reveals itself as raw virulence cast in something approaching The Cramps meeting Th’ legendary Shack Shakers as The Orson Family add their incestuous lures ultimately emerging as a depraved invasion all of the band’s making.
Your Dangerous Mind has a less undisciplined bounce, its saunter more flirtation than aggression and just as irresistible as Hampshire with grainy texture croons, backed by his cohorts within tangy grooves and hip inciting rhythms. The r&b essences of the song are just as ripe as its brisk punk serenade, chaining a body and imagination which is soon firmly hooked again by the sultry rumba of I Don’t Understand Her Any More. As with most tracks, a collusion of decades is at masterful play, sixties garage pop and seventies surf rock hues potent spices as too the fuzzy buzz of organ in the gentle but keen canter of a song.
With new album Don’t Let It Be in the works, Playboy Manbaby tease the appetite with You Can Be A Fascist Too, the first single from the impending release. Originally scheduled for a February unveiling, it was brought forward to coincide with the US presidential inauguration. From the off it assaults and lures with a belligerent guitar jangle quickly followed by the raw incitement of Pfeffer’s vocals. Second by second new invasive hooks and salacious grooves fling themselves into the punk mayhem, band shouts and off kilter harmonies wagging a beckoning finger as effectively as the caustic riffs and tenacious rhythms.
I Tried To Leave brings a lighter poppier tone next though bass and drums still have that enjoyable crankiness as the pair explores a more Jane’s Addiction flavoured adventure. Every twist and turn in its intoxicating blaze brings fresh ingredients to devour, a psych rock invention only adding to a mouth-watering stomp before Who Wants to Know turns the album’s charge into a prowling, dark toned trespass. Vocally Higgins and Chow conjure a bewitching union whilst sonically the song sears the senses as rhythms dance on the debris with ridiculously infectious wantonness. A subsequent passage of relative calm enables a blues laced groan to emerge, its restrained air remaining as the track expands again until its volatility surges through ears as Chow’s harmonic lures beckon like a siren.