Rating: NNNN
The album opens with soft flute wanderings slowly overtaken by densely layered guitar washes that remind us more of shoegazer bands than of anything else, before the crushing drums and hoarse screaming thrust us into a futuristic reimagining of the punk formula. There will be hardcore kids who will thumb their noses at this lofty, too-smart take on the genre, but since when was punk about following a formula that’s been endlessly reworked for decades?
There’s a reason why this Toronto band is capturing the imagination of critics and fans all over the world: they’ve reinvigorated the form and stretched its limits in genuinely novel ways, and for the most part their experiments actually hit their mark. Just when you thought the mallification of punk rock had sapped all the danger and excitement from the form, a band like this comes along to remind us that its potential hasn’t been exhausted after all.
