Art Class Sink
Illa
November 25, 2013 (New
Level Music)
910
Having shared stages
with the likes of Skaters
and Temples it seems
that Oxford-based four-piece Art Class Sink
are well on their way to earning the same kind of recognition that
the aforementioned found this year. And well they should. Having
featured the band earlier in the year, I was eager to hear how far
they've progressed in the six months since then and with the release
of their most recent EP Illa,
it's clear that the band have matured, tightened and built upon every
aspect of their sound.
Beginning
with 'She', the record begins with a moody and atmospheric aesthetic
that feels like being welcomed back to familiar territory. Built
almost entirely around impactive instrumentation, the track feels
like a statement of intent, hinting at what's to come, and while it
ends on a rather heavy note, the opening vocal melody of second track
'Time To Go' offsets the weight brought on by the ever-present
freneticism of the drums.
'A
Cry For Help', on the other hand, offsets the energy and
relentlessness of the previous two tracks, replacing it with a sense
of melancholy that, rather atypically, isn't juxtaposed against an
inherent optimism Art Class Sink purport in other tracks. It's quite
a restrained track, but it's a welcome restraint, providing some
brief respite from their driving guitars and pounding percussion.
The
crowning point of Illa
however,
it's zenith if you will, comes in the form of the final track
'Someone to Try For'. Featuring some seriously blissed out grooves,
it's the band mellowing, as much as they can mellow, and is the
perfect soundtrack to a festival evening, a couple of months the
wrong side of summer.
With Illa, the band have expanded on a sound that was already head and shoulders
above most of their contemporaries. A fusion of different ideas and
aesthetics, the EP brings that many different aspects of Art Class
Sink to the fore, it's difficult to even label it. Relaxed and laid
back indie-pop is nestled in side by side with moodier tracks that
are, in turn, fitted in perfectly next to shoegaze elements in a
combination that one wouldn't think would work. It never feels
erratic or disjointed though, and that's the beauty of it, the band
manage to create a huge sense of space and of openness, whilst never
lacking the drive nor energy to keep things interesting, definitely a
band to watch out for as we go into 2014 and beyond.
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