Labels: Dirt Cult Records
Formats: Vinyl/Digital
Release Date: 22 Jun 2018
Tracklist:
1. Out Of Hands
2. What I Learned From Righteous Cowboys
3. On Rubicon Beach
4. 72 Paperbacks
Time seems to be getting all the more scarce at the moment, hence the slowdown from a writing perspective this month. There's a few days left though so I'm going to attempt to make up for that slightly, starting with this new 7" from US pop/garage/punk band Character Actor. This EP is their debut and it was released on vinyl and digitally via Dirt Cult Records in June. Character Actor contains members of the likes of The Ergs!, Night Birds and Black Wine, so the quality here should be without question.
This is hella catchy. Character Actor reminds me a lot of early pop/punk (back in the Nitro Records days when it was actually pretty varied). I hope I’m not doing them a disservice by saying that! Out Of Hands epitomises the pop influence in their sound. It’s short but to-the-point, the guitars and the vocals are melodic and it’s well written. There’s a horror-punk feel to the vocal melodies on What I Learned From Righteous Cowboys. The song doesn’t pass the one-minute mark yet the percussion and guitar work that’s put into it is way more precise and danceable than most bands that try to do this type of thing. The brief solo at the end screams good times too.
The band’s fuzziness isn’t overpowering though you can definitely hear it during the verses of On Rubicon Beach. That being said, it doesn’t matter one jot if you can hear it because Character Actor’s collective experience is thrown straight into this recording. You’ll wish their song were longer such is their infectiousness. EP closer 72 Paperbacks is such a head-bobber and one that’s so chilled-out that you’ll be pressing repeat on it constantly. In fact, I challenge you not to press repeat on the whole EP (it’ll be impossible to resist!). It’s almost nonchalantly delivered but never quite tips over to that level. It’s just very good indeed. This is my favourite punk release of the year and will be hard to shift from that lofty perch.
You can stream and purchase the EP digitally below:-
You can buy the 7" on mixed colour vinyl here - https://store.greennoiserecords.com/collections/dirt-cult-records/products/character-actor-s-t-7
Dirt Cult Records - https://www.facebook.com/dirtcultrecords/
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