Six By Seven
The Way I Feel Today
Mantra / Beggars Banquet
England’s Six By Seven come out strong on their new album, the third one in a line of combustion-packed, angst-ridden outings. Opening with three of their most accessible songs to date – “So Close,” “I.O.U. Love,” and “All My New Best Friends,” all of them great if atypical tracks – it doesn’t take them long to return to their now familiar trademark noise rock. Layers upon layers of fuzzy guitars and distorted sounds melt together to create a sound of complexity and confusion, effectively underlining and giving sense to the lyrics that splutter with anger, doubt, resentment and bewilderment.
“I know a man who would lock himself in his office and try to knock the house down with his head,” Chris Olley screams on the frantic “Cafeteria Rats,” and it somehow perfectly summarizes the feeling of distance and fear that runs throughout the album. “I never promised you shit, I never promised you nothing/We never celebrate my black old heart,” goes “Flypaper For Freaks.” Well, he gets his own back here.
In essence, this is art punk with a commercial edge, a more melancholic but scared-to-death …Trail of Dead. On tracks like “American Beer” and the title track, they’re even reminiscent of Spiritualized and The Verve, easy and effortless melodies on top of droning noise and churning backgrounds. But more than anything, Six By Seven are establishing a sound for themselves, ultimately resembling no one else.
Mantra Recordings: http://www.mantrarecordings.com
