‘Fear of Life’, the second album by Bay Area post-punks Creative Adult, sees them explore a new sense of melody without losing any of the dark intensity that characterised their debut, ‘Psychic Mess’.
Recorded amid a storm of creative conflict that saw guitarist Michael Bingham push the band to breaking point in order to move them into new territory, the album pairs swaggering ‘90s-indebted guitar riffs with chiming ‘80s vocal melodies to sweep through their familiar fog of fuzz.
Taking them further from their hardcore roots, where speed and brevity rule, many of the tracks here come in at over five minutes long. The opener, Connected, is an eight minute epic that lulls the listener into a false sense of security with its slowly shifting melodic patterns before Scott Phillips ends the track with a terrifying howl.
Towards the other end of the scale you have Moving Window, which finds the band at their most melodic as its jangle-pop guitars combine with a tuneful vocal line. It’s as uplifting as they get.
There is still a ferocity to Creative Adult. The hooks are fed through dissonant guitars that, at times, disintegrate into extended sections of distortion almost entirely devoid of melody.
To balance that out, Phillips’ vocals remain direct and snarling. Though kept low in the mix, his voice is a haunting presence. When he repeats the line “I can love”, from the song of the same name, it’s not some grand statement but an attempt to convince himself that it could be true.
There is a deep richness of texture on ‘Fear of Life’ that makes it a sonically impressive album. Where ‘Psychic Mess’ forced you into to take note with its physicality, its follow up lures you into a dream state where you’re left swaying lost and alone.
Creative Adult Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu October 13 2016 - BRIGHTON Green Door Store
Fri October 14 2016 - LONDON Moth Club
Sat October 15 2016 - CARDIFF Four Bars
Sun October 16 2016 - GLASGOW 13th Note
Mon October 17 2016 - MANCHESTER Star And Garter
Tue October 18 2016 - LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
Wed October 19 2016 - NORWICH Owl Sanctuary
Thu October 20 2016 - NOTTINGHAM Rock City Basement
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