ANBAD loves, yet loathes, understatement.
If you’re awesome, it’s worth shouting about, and bands that don’t do this have merely found a quiet, reticent way of shooting themselves in the foot.
That said, understatement does have the occasional attractive moment: here’s (the wonderfully named) Pillowcase’s assessment of their new song, Brain: “just a demo from my bedroom, should be going into the studio soon.”
Mercy. If I’d written a song as lethargically, noxiously, grubby as Brain, I’d be singing its praises from the rooftops.
Such songs are not new, in many respects: where’s the pitch-shifted vocals? The sparse clicks in place of drums? The de-tuned R’n’B samples?
Importantly, who gives a monkeys? – there are so few genuinely flustered, scratchy and fuzzy/fizzy rock songs being made now, that Brain is welcome in its purest form.
Just a demo? Just a peep through a window into a different time. Wet, gritty and delicious.