Coriky
Dischord
After a COVID-inflicted delay, the self-titled album from Coriky is finally released. Featuring Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina from the Evens and Joe Lally from Fugazi, Coriky is something of a merging of the two bands, creating harmony-laden post-punk with a haunting edge.
The album’s opener, the catchy “Clean Kill” despite being written months ago, sounds like it could be commenting on current events with the references to “terrible things she’s seen on her screen” and “not enough soap and water.”
The sparse, clean production greatly assists the songs, giving them room to breathe, helping the individual instruments stand out, and displaying the musical intuition between the players, honed from years of playing together.
Lally’s bass gives a grounding to the vocal harmonies with his reggae-inspired bassline on “BQM” or his rumbling, ominous work in “Have a Cup of Tea,” and the interplay with Lally on “Shedileebop” creates a groove for MacKaye to add some walls of guitar tone.
“Woulda Coulda” is a great closer to the album featuring Amy Farina’s yearning vocals, Lally’s lonely bass and MacKaye unleashing some plaintive Bill Frisell-inspired guitar that you want to go on forever.
Neither a Fugazi reunion or a beefier Evens release Coriky displays a mature band working together, displaying a quiet strength. Hopefully this is just the beginning.
