Landlords - EP Review: Codeine
Here we have the
second EP from Hamilton-based quartet Landlords containing five songs at
approximately 20 minutes in length. Interestingly the band are signed with a UK
label, something I only realised when I checked out their Bandcamp page and
could not work out why prices were in sterling instead of NZD. I must confess
this led me to the label site and I can see I need to order a t-shirt they have
for sale as it’s awesome! Anyway, back to the band, and as this is available
digitally on Bandcamp I had a look at the tags. This can be an interesting
exercise, as it allows a listener to see how a band view themselves, and they
have a label I have not come across before, “doomgaze”, yet as soon as I saw it,
I realised that certainly in the context of this EP it makes total sense as
Landlords do indeed play that subgenre of music. They have taken elements of shoegaze,
especially the dreamy nature with loads of reverb on the guitars and vocals which
are placed within the arrangement as opposed to on top of it, and then mixed it
with doom to create something which is lighter than one would expect from that
genre while also being heavier than the normal shoegaze style.
Bringing together two styles which are often atmospheric in nature means, unsurprisingly, that we have a very atmospheric collection and consequently this is a set which needs to be played on headphones to get the most out of it. Somewhat surprisingly I managed to be reminded of both Radiohead and The Tornados (whose single Sputnik was the first band single to get to #1 in America) yet always with the threat of something heavier coming along at any moment, especially when the vocals are played towards the background and the focus is on the riffed guitars. There can be one guitar and bass linked together, then this highly echoey lighter guitar overlaid on top, which creates a very different style indeed. This combination works well, and it will be interesting to hear if they manage to maintain this mix when playing live or if the heaviness takes over. They are certainly worthy of further investigation.
About Landlords
Born in 2017 from various members of local hardcore / metal / punk bands, a trio of shoegaze / slow rock fans got together, and soon came a small collection of demo-ready shoegaze inspired songs.
The band soon started popping up in venues around the country, filling rooms with their driving, reverb-laden tunes. Their original bassist relocated to Melbourne for a year, but was soon back in New Zealand due to Covid, re-joining the band on guitar, making Landlords a 4-piece.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Landlords
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