With the debut album from Hot Sauce Pony prowling anticipation, the UK outfit unleash its first lure in the shape of the carnally seductive Burnt Ends. The track is a ravenous teaser of that forthcoming self-titled offering, a song which has calm, beauty, and ruin colluding for a frustratingly but imperiously short one minute plus.
Formed in 201, the London band consists of vocalist Caroline Gilchrist, guitarist Ross Davies, bassist Stephen Gilchrist, and drummer Anna Dodridge. Their sound is a unique fusion of noise and punk rock with grunge, post punk, and hardcore hues. They call it Avant Hard; we call it in regards to the new single feral sensuality. The track and the upcoming Steve Albini (Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey) album follow a first single in Fenced In which aroused rich attention and intrigue. Burnt Ends more than builds on its ear grabbing success and thick potency with a moment where extremes unite to devour the senses with beauty and ruin.
From its first breath Burnt Ends had us licking lips, the charred growl of the bass a bestial temptation matched by the just as roasted snarl of the guitar. Swiftly the melodic siren tempting of Caroline’s vocals drew ears deeper into the cremated offering, the slow manipulative swing of Anna’s beats just as irresistible. Like a fusion of Horse Party, Morass Of Molasses, and Mudhoney with a whiff of Young Marble Giants yet firmly individual, the track just got under the skin and into the psyche as hips continued to sway to its primal groove.
Such the pleasure, it really does frustrate when the track stops suddenly and without warning barely a clutch of seconds past its first minute. It leaves nagging, teasing fingers though as its elements continued to echo in thoughts long after departure.
Leave them wanting more is the key to success some say, and without doubt the hunger for the band’s eponymous debut album is on the point of rabidity thanks to Burnt Ends.
Burnt Ends is released June 22nd via Brixton Hillbilly. The band also has first single Fenced In available as a free download @ https://soundcloud.com/brixton-hillbilly/fenced-in-by-hot-sauce-pony
Upcoming Hot Sauce Pony live dates:
23rd June Club 85, HITCHIN
30th June Betsy Trotswood, LONDON
16th August – HY-Brazil, BRISTOL
https://www.facebook.com/hotsaucepony/
Pete RingMaster 20/05/2018
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
It is a bright and tempting start which is built upon by the more boisterous exploits of Five Fingers. Rhythms are a tenacious guide into the raw melody woven web of the song, everything from voice and sharp words to a wandering keys bred warble offering enticing hooks taking the EP to another level in no time.
Fighting opens up with the minimalistic charm of Young Marble Giants before blossoming into a rousing yet still nicely reserved proposal with an eighties new wave air wrapped around the inspiring rise of keys bred strings. A track which grows to its glory over numerous pleasing listens rather than making an instant impact, it soon has the imagination aflame while 5 Is The Number easily captivates with a cosmopolitan yet intimate sway as great drama infests its bass and a matching adventure in its overall invention. As pleasing and striking as both are, they are eclipsed by Wolves and its creative theatre which has a touch of The Cellophane Flowers to it.
The EP’s title track opens up the fascination, Busted Flush a web of seductive melodies and shadowy rhythms in an atmospheric caress equally as dual natured. As the throated threat of bass colludes with crisp beats, Taylor’s exotic tones finger the imagination, backed by keys which hold suggestiveness in every melodic note. The song plays like the backdrop to a cold war romancing, a canvas for a Doctor Zhivago/ The Spy Who Came in from the Cold like involvement with Taylor the seductress narrating events. Across its blossoming landscape, Firth matches the vocal allurement with his poetic melodies and keys cast theatre further tapping into more sci-fi shared echoes of suggestion. It is a glorious transfixing as exotically dark and broodingly portentous as it is bizarrely magical.
The excellent start continues with the similarly magnetic Since You Were Not Mine, a siren of melodic and harmonic enslavement from band and Roach. For indefinable reasons, and as its predecessor, there is something familiar about the song but nothing easy to pin down as it has thoughts and body swaying to its poetic waltz before If You Could See takes over charming ears with its slightly darker emotion and more haunted ambience. Spatial yet intimate, the song finds increasing zeal in its gait and catchiness without ever hitting anything beyond second gear, a restraint which bewitches as potently as the wash of melancholic beauty serenading ears.
The great start is followed by the mellower caress of Bitter Pill, though its body is all drama and the vocals awash with warm crystalline harmonies that seem to incite an infectious swing to grab the energy of the song. From lapping ears like gentle but eager waves to a fiery expulsion of sizzling sonic rowdiness and back again in a repeating cycle, ears are richly satisfied before Ego Loss takes over with its similarly low key but vibrant dance. The dark hues of bass make a healthy temper to the celestial strains of Kenedy and the imaginative jangle of Ayres’ guitar, the jabbing beats of Hockley bridging the two with their metronomic yet inventive canter. Like The Darling Buds meets The Raincoats, the track is a persistent captivation.
It is a thrilling start to the album, fully waking ears and attention for the following calmer mystery of Factory Floor to play with. Coldly atmospheric and romantically melodic, the track taunts and caresses the imagination with, again, a blend of melodic and raw textures. The Passions come to mind as the song writhes impressively within ears, but as shown time and time again, Scarlet Echo twist any elements into their own imaginative devilment; a Talking Heads spiced bassline perfect evidence from within the excellent encounter.