Swallow the Rat - Single Review: Other Rooms Feat. Yuko Miyoshi
Swallow The Rat are
back with a new single in time for their NZ tour (with Ripship in support,
which makes a lot of musical sense to me), where they have also brought in Yuko
Miyoshi of Memory Foam who provides additional lead vocals. This is a tough
one to listen to, almost as if Can have been invited to a Stooges gig, and they
have decided to fuzzily distort everything, bringing in additional instruments
to create a carpet of sound for the vocals to rest on. There is nothing clean
here, everything bleeds into everything else, and any sense of space has been
distorted which makes this both intense and cloying, taking the breath and life
out of everything, removing all colour so that all exists is the noise. Punk,
avant-garde, noise, experimental, it is all these things and more, and possibly
less.
If ever a performance was designed to provoke a reaction, then this is it, and the first time I played the first few bars I literally had my head in my hands asking, “Why me?”. By the end of the third time of playing I realised there was a great deal of depth and reality within this, so much so than most of the music one comes across in the popular charts, and only a few more found me really enjoying it. This is the only song I have heard by these guys, but if the rest of the material follows a similar vein, then their concerts must be something else. Sonically deep in the red this will not be for everyone, but for those who appreciate this style then this needs to be played on 11.
About Swallow the Rat
In 2019 a self-titled 7" was released which coincided with several showcase performances at SXSW in Austin, TX. A string of shows across New Zealand followed, including opening for No Age, Gang Of Four and Sebadoh. Subsequently, they signed to US label Shifting Sounds.
March 2020 they performed at New Colossus Festival in NYC as part of a US tour. Meanwhile back in NZ the singles Bird of Ill and Cold Moon both went to #1 on the 95bFM Top Ten. 24 April 2020 saw the global release of the LP Leaving Room.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Swallow the Rat
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