Altsounds - Skeleteen - Bury The Seasons [EP]

LA trio Skeleteen continue the welcome resurgence of shoegaze with the rerelease of their debut EP Bury the Seasons. Fusing the revitalised genre with grunge and noise rock is certainly not a new thing, Sonic Youth have been doing it for years and The Smashing Pumpkins brought it as close to the mainstream as it has ever been by adding more melody with Siamese Dream, but Skeleteen demonstrate that there is much more to be mined from this sonic fusion.

The opening two tracks “Falter” and “She Comes Out (Dead Romantic)” are both distortion drenched with a dose of drone rock. As is often the case with the genres in which Skeleteen conduct their work, the songs sound more like jams that have organically evolved rather than be carefully constructed with the standard songwriting parts. They’re the kind of tracks that only guitar players construct, guitar players with almost an obsession with the marriage of electric guitar and effects pedals and their many possibilities.

“A. Modulation” is theabove if constructed by a guitarist who also happens to be a serial killer, perhaps taking the term ‘axe’ a little too literally. The hushed vocals of Kyle Justinare eerily mixed with the sound of radio tuning, led along by an evil bass line that promises only doom. By the time it finishes, a second short of three minutes, you find yourself reaching for some twee-pop just to restore some balance to the world.

The final track is a remix of “She Comes Out (Dead Romantic)”, rather cunningly entitled “She Comes Out (Romantic Mix)”. Although the slight name amendment may offer nothing new, the remix itself certainly does. With more emphasis now on the beats, some of which are simply short bursts of guitar distortion, the track takes on a whole new life, and at almost four minutes shorter, it’s a life with more purpose and vigour.
With their follow up No Fun Intended, Skeleteen explored their heavier side and produced a more urgent sonic assault; Bury the Seasons is the sound of the band planning their attack.

Track List:
1 Falter
2 She Comes Out (Dead Romantic)
3 A. Modulation
4 She Comes Out (Romantic Mix)