 |
|
Black Love, "Unlust"
Ostensibly a hard rock band, there is much more to Black Love lurking beneath the superficial. Drummer Tony Cicero and Sergio Segovia’s bass (and electronics) may sound like a conventional arrangement, but David Cotner’s vocals and unconventional additions (a mule jawbone, for example), add an additional layer of depth. Across these four songs there is more than a hint of broken romance bitterness, but with the right amount of sardonic and wry self-awareness to make it anything but trite.
At first listen, Unlust is heavily steeped in a bass driven, garage sound; a rawness that is reminiscent of the Touch & Go/Amphetamine Reptile roster in the early 1990s.Opener "Insight" takes a bit of time with its minimalist bass/drum/bells, but it soon locks into a groove that catchy yet abrasive.Cotner's vocals are up front, uncomfortable and twisted befitting the subject matter."Airlessness" follows similarly, but puts an even greater emphasis on Segovia's bass and more unconventional percussion courtesy of Cotner, all the while taking on a slightly more aggressive tempo.
The second half of the record leads with "Being Stabbed," all rattling noisy bass and big, booming drums.Lyrically violent and disturbing, with the content working both on the literal and figurative implications of the title, the band somehow manages to shape such ugliness into a memorable chorus. The longer "Had a Bad Dream" is where all of the best pieces of the Black Love sound come together the most effectively.The lengthier duration allows the trio a more expansive, experimental opening that leads into a throbbing bass guitar and subtle percussion.A dirgy march, with frustrated and nihilistic vocals, it eventually goes into a faster paced groove but never strays far away from sounding heavily dismal.
While lyrically and thematically Unlust is a single-note affair of wretched anti-romantic pessimism, Black Love combine just the right amount of self-awareness, and big, noisy bass and drums, to result in an album that is not the plodding emo-fest it could otherwise be.Instead it is appropriately bitter and unpleasant, but not necessarily one of the records that are only pulled out after a particularly bad breakup.With those themes coupled with an excellent rhythm section, Unlust comes together perfectly.
samples:
 
