Led by Aaron Maine, Porches have made a name for themselves as an introspective genre- bending indie group since their debut record ‘Slow Dance in the Cosmos’ arrived in 2013.
‘Shirt’ continues this tradition, flitting through pop-punk, electro, grunge and emo in a tight 28 minutes of quirky introspection. Maine manages to showcase a lot of his talents in this snapshot of an album: his languid melodies weave complex ideas over bumping and occasionally surprising beats.
These skills really shine on Bread Believer, a track that twitches and skips on its way to becoming probably the album’s biggest earworm.
Sally and Rag, meanwhile, sound a bit like outtakes from Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’, managing to push beyond pastiche to sound fresh. This is good stuff.
At its strongest moments, ‘Shirt’ feels like it’s uncovering entirely new worlds through changing tempos and arrangements. This is demonstrated on School, which builds from a single guitar and voice to a three-part polyphonic harmony.
But it’s not all this good. One constant throughout is the DIY production of the vocals and percussion, and in some ways, this is the biggest let down. Over the band’s six albums, Maine has successively compressed and digitised his vocals. The end result is incredibly current but also sometimes cheap, taking a left turn from Kurt Cobain and headlong into Machine Gun Kelly. That’s not a good thing.
Porches Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu September 26 2024 - BRIGHTON Chalk
Sat September 28 2024 - MANCHESTER YES
Tue October 01 2024 - BIRMINGHAM Mama Roux's
Wed October 02 2024 - LONDON Heaven
Fri April 11 2025 - DUBLIN Workman's Club Cellar
Sat April 12 2025 - MANCHESTER YES (The Pink Room)
Sun April 13 2025 - GLASGOW Stereo
Tue April 15 2025 - BRISTOL Thekla
Wed April 16 2025 - LONDON Heaven
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