This Masthead – Infinity Broke (Love As Fiction Records)
If Jamie Hutchings’ better-known band of the ‘90s, Bluebottle Kiss, was a child of grunge (at least in the ear of the major label to whjich it signed), Infinity Broke owes its parentage to something less well defined and commodified: Dissonance.
“This Masthead” is the band’s fourth album and now on Perth label Love As Fiction, usually a home for ‘90s re-issues. The quartet is loosely built on a drums-guitar base that brings a stack of influences to bear. The PR blurb says: “Hypnotic avant rock with teeth” and (for once) it’s accurate.
Formed in 2013 by Hutchings (vocals and guitar) after Bluebottle Kiss wound down (for the time being, as it turned out), the rest of the band is his brother Scott Hutchings (drums and guitar), Tyrone Stevens (drums and percussion) and Reuben Wills (bass). “This Masthead” grew out of jamming, and the loose spontaneity at its heart is immediately apparent. Its nine songs balance noise rock with faint melodies. It’s not straight up rock. It is addictive. Take the plunge.
Wills’ loping bass-lines will tug at the sleeve, Hutchings’ plaintive vocal and abstract lyrics will engage. You’ll be enveloped in layers of guitar peppered by percussive outbursts and feedback. Tim Fagan (remember him from Died Pretty’s “Free Dirt”?) chips in with occasional saxophone. There are field sounds, piano, snatches of tuneful backing vocals and some nuanced studio effects, all contributing light and shade.
Opener “Abject Object” will make an impression from the get go. A swooping rhythm section and layered double-tracked vocal presages a stormfront of squalling guitar that doesn’t let up – in fact, the ante is upped with some appropriate shredding at the mid-point. Never mind the limited chords, feel the energy. It sounds like it was recorded live bedcause most of it was.
The rolling “Population of One” is the six-minute-plus opus that arguably brings everything into play. “Scum Valley 69” (hi to Sonic Youth) is a show-stealer, an almost radio-friendly mix of bouncing percussion, rolling bass, open guitar chording and a soaring vocal. There are nods to Thurston and Co, early PiL and Gang of Four.
As good as that is, it’s the seven-minute plus “Snowdome of Dreams” that’s the album’s Personal Best. Stuttering percussion and an insistent bass-line are punctuated by some obvious Television guitar references (“Elevation” and “Little Johnny Jewel”). Tim Hagan’s sax brings a touch of Coltrane free jazz (or, if you prefer, “LA Blues” Stooges) to the party. Jamie Hutchings intones while slightly off-beat handclaps duck in. The song temporarily yields to a dark and vaguely vocal melodic chorus.
“I’m In My Prime” follows and, apart from some withering guitar, is positively conventional by comparison.
For those with fixed tastes: When he's not reviving The D4, mainman Dion Lunadon is an avant noise rocker, making waves in his adopted home of the USA and Europe, and Bluebottle Kiss was on Citadel Records for a time.
Underground rock has been pushed to the margins by corporate forces shunning creativity in favour of unit-shifting in the digital supermarket of streaming. The rock and roll farm’s been sold. but we can still draw inspiration from small labels and bands like Infinity Broke that are cultivating their own market gardens. Buy it on Bandcamp or from the label.
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