Frownland

Bat-Bike - Getting Back

I just want to make a note that this album has 15 tracks on Spotify, and if you're listening to their 10 track vinyl release on bandcamp, you're doing it wrong.

I've been spinning this album a lot lately, huge fan of these guys' genuine sound, as OH put it. It's weird that the band is from Scotland and London, because aside from some accents (which I would have chalked up to inflection), they sound American as ****.

The opener, Leicester Holiday, is a great, jammy grungegaze dirge with hints of kratrock and Swans, even. The somewhat bluesy guitar on the intro and Sean Lemon is lot like the clean guitar tone I use.

Sean Lemon is the best song on the album btw. It's big. It's ****in loud and scuzzy. I think it's the distorted vox that really make the song. It lands on this cool, krautrocky outro. These guys really sound like a great live band.

Digital Image sounds straight off of a Ween album and is a cool aside from the sounds on the rest of the album. Nice.

We Like Tom Waits (Because He's Famous) has a philosophy I can get along with. Cool, bluesy guitar-driven instrumentals that are somewhat in the vein of Beefheart and The Fall or some ****. Listen to these guys, OH, it's a big mistake.

Bad Ben is a cool anthemic, slightly humourous track about a selfish and evil guy named Ben. I wonder what Ben did to these guys. I wonder if he hates Tom Waits. While I dig the riff, I think it's too repetitive and could be two minutes shorter.

Alone on the A9 is a sick, shoegaze heavy track that's strung out and fun at the same time. While the band is obvious great all around, the singer really stands out from the rest on tracks like these. The repetitiveness of this song doesn't hurt it, and I always think of it as a shorter track than it actually is.

Winner is one of my faves on the album. It's just ridiculously boisterous and cool I showed this track to one of my friends and before the drums came in, he thought that it was an early WISSK track, which speaks to the closeness of the guitarist to my sound. That's a compliment as ****. That little stop before the verse is sweet too and this song has some of the best lyrics on the album: "I saw a picture of a man that's richer when I looked into the mirror"

And then we get down to Sex. This song isn't bad or anything and has grown on me a bit, but it feels like it's short for a reason: it's a step down from the extremely strong first few tracks.

Where's the Home? is cool, sort of Beatles-esque melodically. The wild shrieky vocals at the end make up for this song though.

You're So Sticky should've been cut. Too corny and it doesn't quite have the magic of the other tracks.

Shades Off kind of carries on in the vein of "why did they add this?" But the stripped down approach makes it interesting. These tracks aren't bad, just a letdown from the beginning which rocks my world.

Hollywood is my least favourite track on the album. Too tongue in cheek and pop punk. Not even a frantic no wave solo can save this track.

In Zero starts off with a smoky vibe. On of the more filler tracks of these filler tracks stacked on the end, but I really like the groove and change of pace here. Little overlong though.

Trapped in the Net is nice, heavy on the lofi indie vibe. I prefer these guys when they're loud though. Still filler though.

Getting Back - A stompin, bluesy anthem that closes on a gospel vibe. Neat track but it carries on a little too long and has some cheesy moments.

Final Thoughts: Man, I really wish they'd ended the album on Winner, because then it'd be a 11/10 record. Those other tracks get the job done though.
Favourite Tracks: Leicester Holiday, Sean Lemon, Winner
Least Favourite Tracks: Hollywood, You're So Sticky, Trapped in the Net
Rating: 9/10 because when it's good it's damn good.

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