CHORE The Coastaline Fire (Sonic Unyon) Rating: NNNN Rating: NNNN
On their third album, small-town Ontarians Chore succeed in the seemingly paradoxical task of making loud, heavy music elegant. The Coastaline Fire combines the seething fury of a band like Sunny Day Real Estate with the understated delicacy of Red House Painters tidal waves of crunchy guitar noise and thudding punk-inflected bass play against fragile acoustic ballads. They even manage to throw in some Constantines-style hardcore soul. It’s no great shock that the brooding band’s songs tend toward the dark and cryptic. What’s unexpected is the intelligence and poetic power of their lyrics.
