The follow-up to ‘Major Arcana’, Speedy Ortiz’s enjoyably sludgy, ‘90s-indebted full-band debut LP, the ‘Real Hair’ EP continues to build on those foundations while introducing a couple of twists that hint at an exciting flexibility in the band’s sound.
Cutting through the angular, Dischord-indebted guitars are Sadie Dupuis’ winning, sugary melodies and roundabout lyrics, both of which have been turned up a couple of notches.
Dupuis and Matt Robidoux jab at each other with competing riffs as drummer Mike Falcone smacks seven shades out of his kit, with infectious choruses elbowing their way into view on each of the four tracks.
American Horror distils the EP’s essence neatly, with Dupuis’ unashamedly poppy hooks competing with a slab of noise at its core, while Oxygal wrings a rich vein of melody from some of its more dense instrumental passages.
Throughout there are whiffs of Pavement’s lackadaisical playing, J Robbins’ halting vocal style and the eardrum-annihilating distortion of Dinosaur Jr, but Speedy Ortiz are quite in control of their influences.
Dupuis’ noted eloquence and ability to coin a phrase, see the ‘bonebag’ of Oxygal or the robots and protocol of Shine Theory, is their trump card, setting them apart from the myriad noise-grunge-revival-whatever bands currently doing the rounds.
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