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Album Review

The Bent Moustache
Pastures New Seasons Turn Wormer Bros Records

Article written by Ged M - Oct 25, 2011

The Bent Moustache: Pastures New Seasons Turn

So many bands make their influences apparent but this record by The Bent Moustache (their second, following 2007’s Forst) reimagines some of their and our favourite bands (and Paul Simon) in novel ways. ‘Skip A Breath’ states their intent in a shitstorm of squally noise that resolves with a melodic kick that could be My Bloody Valentine at their best. The title track starts full of electronic interference and then becomes a skyful of floaty shoegaze while ‘Hey Mate (I’ve Got Plenty To Spare)’ is primo quality Fall, complete with merciless Steve Hanley-style bass and surrealistic lyrics (and delivery) worthy of Mark E Smith. It’s the best triptych of tracks to open an album this year.

There’s plenty more to keep the attention, from the Higsonian post-punk-funk of ‘Loose Thinking Now’, complete with hooting brass section, to ‘The Sound of Sirens’. In a weird electronic landscape, Ajar Saggar intones, in best Ian Curtis tones, the familiar “hello darkness my old friend” in what might be an homage to, or evisceration of, the Simon & Garfunkel song. Genius!

The songs were written, recorded and written by Saggar, ex-Dandelion Adventure and Donkey (both had sessions for Peel), who’s lived in Holland for the past 20 years as musician/ soundman/engineer. He and his bandmates make an articulate art-rock noise that mixes aggressive post-punk rhythms with sweet boy/girl harmonies, killer riffs and addictive melodies for an experience which, while rooted in the past, makes it all sound refreshingly new and vital.

Links:
http://www.thebentmoustache.com
http://www.myspace.com/thebentmoustacheband