The Touques
EP
(self-released)
Rating: 3 of 5
The grinding sustain of the guitar suddenly waning to handclaps and an octave-jumping keyboard bass part, my first impression was that this was another Bloc Party-style art punk band. But continuing to listen to "4", the first of five on this self-titled EP from
The second track, “Roy Stampler”, is a jagged runner laden with give-and-take guitar lines, competing vocals, apropos drum fills, and a derailed middle-leg jam. The Touques voracious approach to post-punk revival is coupled with their own wanton folly. The ‘smoke-break’ of “White Elephant (Settling)”, with its written-in-one-morning feel, would act as fitting filler to play to the crowd waiting for the band to emerge onto the stage during a live show. It even comes equipped with a sub-track of background party banter.
With more than greets the ear initially, The EP sheds light on a flair for the fancy. The saturated reverb of the mix combined with the moodier nebulous tones of the final two selections on this short-player lend to gothic decay, not completely unowing to seminal acts like The Cure. “Goodbye Monsieur” closes with the same chattering guitar that “4” opens with, looping the record like a Mobius strip.
Like looking through a magic lantern, the phantasmagoria of the lyrical imagery and off-tune caterwauling will hypnotize, yet unsettle. The flow of the material is a little misleading, but the spellbind of its beacon keeps you trudging forward—as if, blindly following the direction of a compass even though you know it not to work properly. Wide-eyed and somewhat wilted, you can still hazily make out shapes on the horizon of the promise of what may come. Or, is it just a mirage?
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