Storm Boy - Superposition! (self-released)

Storm Boy has, by their own admission, always found it tough to find a sound bite or generic tag that succinctly sums up what they do. But that, I think, is a good thing, a unique selling point, even more reason to champion their cause. Actually, I don’t think…I know. After all, it stands to reason that if you could find a suitable label, soundbite, or slogan to use as shorthand for any band or artist, it must follow that something similar must already exist in the musical canon. The more Storm Boy struggles to define what they do, the more the reason to love them.

The title of their latest EP, Superposition! seems to be the band accepting this stat of sonic flux and fluidity, a term that relates to the placing of multiple things, one on top of the other, the layering of different properties, of something being made up of many different components and where perception is all about context, what one person sees, or in this case, hears, is not necessarily the same for everyone. If such a term can be applied to music, then few typify such an eclectic process as Storm Boy.

Kicking off with “Instrument,” they declare their interest in blending the melodic with muscular, raw college rock grooves with grungey moves, looking for beauty in the most aggressive and abrasive sounds, and making opposites attract by smashing them together with great force. And, as messy as all that sounds, it works. Boy, does it ever.

“Smiling Betty” is a squalling salvo of discordant guitar clashes interspersed with beguiling sonic breakdowns. “GHOSTS!” is a fist-in-the-air, foot-on-the-monitor slice of mutant punk sing-along, mosh-along, slam-along. “Keep It Simple” runs on a motorik groove on top of which the band blend the formative goth sound of, say, “Sisters of Mercy” with the energy of “Stooges” proto-punk, sonic panic attacks.

Four tracks later, I still can’t tell you anything about the genre, sound, or style of the band or where you might file this in the record shop racks (we still have those, right?), but I can tell you that if you want something different, brilliantly different, forged from vaguely familiar sounds, get this now.

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