"The Laureates were kind enough to send me their latest single on Funambulist recording
company. I finally got around to giving it a spin this weekend:
This could easily have been recorded a few decades ago in the wall of sound tradition
of bands like The Crystals, in fact this opening riff on the first track "I want to
miss you' reminds me so much of their track 'Then he kissed me' that it was one of
those 'what's the name of that song' moments which, thanks to the internet only lasts
a minute.
From there the EP keeps this 60's garage feel, complete with rhythm guitar lines, and
chorus changes, and harmonizing. There is heavy reverb/echo on everything, including
Chad's vocals, down to the drum kit. I like the distance vocally, placed somewhere in
the middle of the mix and sounding a bit like an upbeat Paul Banks from Interpol, that
deep, half talking, kind of holding back emotionally, saving it up to lay it on if and
when it's called for.
It's not far from early Rolling Stones, or the Kinks, like 'Mother's little helper' when
the distortion was novel and incorporated into little pop jems. The guitar on 'Hello,
Hello' really reminded me specifically of 'Can't get no satisfaction' that up the scale chord
and even blues-ish influenced riffs.
This recording lends itself perfectly to the seven inch format, I'm a huge fan of mini EP's
like this where you can really get a feeling for the band. How they fit these 4 tracks on a
single I still don't understand, they don't feel short, this is like one of those unearthed
gems that collectors drool over finding a copy, a misplaced garage band like the Zombies that
is mentioned repeatedly as influencing all kinds of people to pick up a guitar. It's stripped
down, I'd believe it if you told me it was recorded fairly live in the studio. It's just
successful rock period.
They reference the spectrum from The Jam and Spoon as independent contemporaries and I can
hear that, the structures, the songwriting, and honest rock sound, no gimmicks. Witching Boots
starts out with bass line which is joined by a fuzz guitar single string melody and another
layer of guitar comes in over that. I like this two rhythm guitar sound, they're always working
together. They never drown each other, they're both necessary. There isn't a lead, both working
towards the same end, that arm windmill energy. Chad's vocals are echoed and in traditional wall
of sound style, all the sounds bleeding into each other. There's a lot of capable harmonizing on
all tracks, which at first I don't even think I noticed right away.
This single is an impressive first EP in this balanced, timeless sound. A modern take on the
infancy of straight ahead rock and roll."
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