Dance-punk — Music

Snapped Ankles are one of the most theatrical bands around. Their live performances use pageantry and costume to present band members as 'woodwose'; satyr-like Medieval wildmen. But under this frippery is a pretty straightforward ska-punk group. It's difficult at times not to think of Mike Patton's Mr Bungle, a band to whom they owe a sonic debt.

Snapped Ankles' songs, though, lack the compositional ambition of Patton's. Instead they lock into a rigid, almost industrial groove, and stay there for their duration, Fall-like. This is how, with few exceptions, Stunning Luxury proceeds. 'Skirmish in the Suburbs' slows things down at the album's midpoint — but not by much. And then, as if bored with itself, it accelerates for its second half.

Stunning Luxury is a bizarre listen, caught somewhere between rote and inspired. Is it profound, or goofy? What are the band trying to say or do? The whole thing sounds totally alien, but totally familiar. Even the masks behind which band members hide are amorphous and confusing. Despite this thematic impenetrability, they’re very listenable.

Consequently, a lot of Snapped Ankles' quirks end up feeling superfluous. The smoke and mirrors of a band uncomfortable with its own conventionality. Their project's reach exceeds its grasp, and so it sits in a tense area of near-collapse, struggling under the weight of its own ambition. And this, if anything, is what will make or break Stunning Luxury for most listeners. How palatable do you find the sound of a band pushing themselves further than they know how to go?

Fans may be interested in Mr Bungle, Liars, and late work of The Fall. Stunning Luxury is available for stream and purchase here.

Words by Andrew O’Keefe

Gum Takes Tooth make their intentions clear from The Arrow's first track. Heavy modulation shakes the music loose from itself. Guitar distortion pushes the sound into frailty rather than power. A discomforting feeling announces that everything could, at any point, fall apart.

This unique and engaging sound is The Arrow's most appealing element. Composition on this album, by contrast, seems to pilfer from a patchwork of influences. Its title track is the most shameless example. The crushing repetition of Swans' 'Mother of the World', or My Bloody Valentine's 'Nothing Is' is grasped at. But the track is gutless, sinking without leaving a ripple.

Gum Takes Tooth would no doubt enjoy comparisons to such extreme or experimental acts. Their work, though, is closer to The 1975's A Brief Enquiry Into Online Relationships. Inhuman by design, apocalyptic yet triumphant, eclectic but not messy. It’s a half-hearted bid for esoteric beauty — too timid to sever ties from more broadly accepted modes of expression.

'Borrowed Lies' is a mid-album highlight which incorporates a folk-like vocal melody. Gentility and beauty supplant the band's self-seriousness. It's a welcome break — and a few more moments like this could have worked wonders for the album.

As it stands, The Arrow is grandiose, but outstripped by its own ambition. It punches, but punches like a kid. And even its fantastic, medley-like final track, House Built of Fire, can't quite leave the bruise they want it to.

For fans of Crystal Castles, Savages and GNOD. The Arrow is available for streaming and purchase here.

Words by Andrew O’Keefe