May 15, 2020 by A.S. Van Dorston

I was happy to hear when WALL’s Sam York and Vince McClelland formed a new band, as they showed tons of potential on Untitled (2017). Public Practice’s Distance Is A Mirror EP (2018) had me drooling in anticipation for more. While “Bad Girl(s)” was a total punk banger, the funky “Foundation” suggested they had interests that stretched beyond guitar-based post-punk. As expected, their debut full-length explores a fairly wide range of sounds. It’s hard to say if they try different hats at the expense of cohesiveness, as I enjoyed the first couple listens mainly for the colorful array of favorite post-punk and art rock bands that popped in my mind.

“Moon” – Ominous Suicide synth bassline topped with post-industrial menace of early Savages.
“Cities” – Angular art rock guitar of Adrian Belew-era King Crimson, which was also heavily influenced by Talking Heads, and occasional synth bloops that recall Kraftwerk or another Talking Heads tune, “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On).”
“Disposable” – Gang Of Four tribute complete with Dave Allen basslines and Andy Gill’s slashing guitar. Sam York does a cool impression of Lesley Wood’s bored vocals from Go4 acolytes Au Pairs.
“Underneath” – A mashup of both “Ashes To Ashes” and “Fashion” from Bowie’s Scary Monsters, dark disco beats punctuated with squelchy synth lines and a good simulation of Robert Fripp’s angular guitar. The unadorned bass ESG, Bush Tetras and The Slits.
“My Head” – Skanks like a good Selecter/Bodysnatchers choon until the bell rings and veers into disco Blondie territory.
“Compromised” – Great balance of punk energy and melody, vocals recalling Deborah Harry, Tom Tom Club, B-52s and Sleater-Kinney, with backing vocal assist from Drew Citron (check out the Bambara album for more of that).
“Leave Me Alone” – Evokes Gary Numan’s chilly robo-vocals in Tubeway Army’s “Are Friends Electric?” Emotional detachment, isolation, alienation, “that’s all I want,” yeah baby!
“How I Like It” – Features a nice sneering Lee Renaldo-ish (Sonic Youth) lead vocal from Vince McCellend. They should let him out of his cage more often.
“Hesitation” – A robo-pop dirge and fairly experimental way to conclude an album.

With only a couple forgettable tracks, it’s a fun (albeit also doleful) introduction to the band and their potential. All three of the instrumentalists are also engineer geeks who like to tinker with homemade gear, and despite the dancy disco funk direction of over a third of the album, they avoid the pitfall of making it sound too polished and perfect. If they do trade their dirty loft for a lab, heck, maybe they could make a killer post-Steely Dan/Chic sort of groove. But for now, their debut is a great snapshot of a band that could explode into a million directions.