Empath - Active Listening: Night On Earth

Best of Year 2019 - Limited edition yellow in transparent blue vinyl

Deceptively infectious noisepop action consistently teetering on the edge of collapse, but always bowling forward with such astonishing velocity that the songs retain a kind of perfect imprecision. Hooks come at you from unexpected angles, the melodies unpredictable but unavoidable. No surprise they feature previous members of Perfect Pussy - imagine the metallic whomp of that band allied with real pop nous. They also recall the more melodic aspects of Times New Viking and early No Age, but I'm refusing to call this shitgaze. It's far too bouyant, too celebratory and ecstatic. I saw a comparison made with early Broken Social Scene, and it makes a lot of sense, if BSS were to lose the Classic Rock histrionics (not to mention a few members) and just charged along on sheer exuberance alone. Puppy dog savant punk rock noise magic. All summer long material.