Anticipation. It’s what we’ve been waiting for. As this new one from The Stolen Moans shimmers and twinkles with its opening fractured and fragile sounds, you just know that it is a prelude to something big, a sonic tsunami heading our way. And sure enough, it isn’t long before the air explodes with incendiary punk energy and alt-rock moves, swagger, attitude and no shortage of pop-aware accessibility.
“Bard-Inspired, Treachery, Chaos & Heartbreak” is the perfect marriage of punk and pop. But not in that way that once led to a wave of puerile, frat-boy humour put to some tired old rhythms that were found lying around after the ska boom. Not one bit. This is the full force of the punk genre, every ounce of groove and grind, every piece of power and propulsive momentum, every abrasive approach and raw edge all crashing headlong through pop territory, pillaging and plundering every bit of sugar and spice, infectiousness and contagion they can get their hands on, like some sort of dark age, sonic raiding party.
The result is the perfect blend of both worlds, a bridge between mass appeal and underground cool, between the cultish and the commercial. A song that doesn’t hold back yet can beguile—perhaps not every mainstream pop fan, but certainly the more discerning ones.
And the fact that to this old and addled set of ears, at least, I hear echoes of everyone from Joan Jett’s anthemics to Transvision Vamp’s kick-ass trash-pop to Wolf Alice’s modern take on such a sound, makes me very happy about the future of music. Very happy indeed.
PS: Oh, man! It’s just clicked. Why did it take me so long to get what the title is all about?
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