Fallow Field
is
Old Haunts
'
Kill Rock Stars
debut, consisting of two previous EPs from the Olympia stomp rockers with six new tracks added. It's sorta
country
, this band's stuff, with
Craig Extine
's slippery yowl out front of spindly guitars and the kind of rhythm that only requires one big kick drum. (Though there's a snare too, and at least one cymbal.)
"Deflect It"
and
"Boots Are Clubs"
are great distillations of this. But
also have a
punk
sensibility in the vein of the
Wipers
or Chicago's
Drapes
-- intriguingly rough edges, and songs that are tossed-off but still dangerous.
"By the Bay"
's pace is hyper and impatient,
"Old World"
adds rickety farmhouse piano to a typically tense pacific northwest indie rattle, and
"You Could Never Know"
only needs slashing guitar and the choppy reports of a snare to make
Extine
's vocal sound perfect and urgent.
is only about a half-hour-long, and rarely wavers from its favorite sound, staccato guitar notes pecking at muddy but expressive basslines. (See
"Cult Baby."
) But despite their limitations,
bring a cool sense of creakiness to their songs.
"Walk Through the Woods"
is aptly named --
sounds like hill people's
punk rock
. ~ Johnny Loftus