Russell Rockwell
Every year, there’s always a few shows which capture the spirit of spontaneity and collaboration with such unexpected audacity that I’m reminded why I’ve spent so much of my life consuming music at dingy clubs. Without fail, there’s never more than thirty people at said shows, and I’m sure I’ve missed my share of rock and roll epiphanies. But for the few who are lucky enough to witness lightning trapped in a bottle, it’s reassuring if not life-changing, which is really all you can ask for if you spend your time skulking around EAV as a music writer.
In Bath’s one-off show at 529 this past summer was not only a revelation, it was a reminder of Hayes Hoey’s ability to control the stage with frantic yelps and grim pontifications that I hadn’t seen since he was fronting Slang. After brief stints as a guitarist in Jock Gang and Material Girls, the In Bath show was a return to form for the songwriter, who has always had the ability to mesmerize his audiences with convicted performances. Hoey, alongside Ben Presley (guitar), Grant Taylor (bass), and John Restivo Jr. (drums) wrote and performed the tracks, and the spark of performance which is so often doused in the studio remains thanks to the work of engineer Graham Tavel, who also mixed and mastered the record. These tracks almost never saw the light of day, but Hoey decided to release the record to the wilds of the internet before his recent pilgrimage to middle America. This catharsis of release bleeds through this brief record with such an urgency that one wonders whether the EP would have gained sentience and released itself had the band not decided to do so.
Plenty of bands invoke the Fall as an inspiration, and it’s understandable because the band’s varied discography means you can claim the influence of acerbic art rock’s prime mover without actually referencing any specifics. Yet, for even the most caustic bands it often feels like reaching. Still, it’s impossible not to mention the Fall in regards to this EP, if for no other reason than the frightening shifts in tone and tempo. On the other hand, the Fall were at heart a one-man project, and these three tracks rely on the telepathic collaboration of Hoey and the rest of the band, especially Presley’s jarring guitar. His ability to frame Hoey’s verses with icy post-punk riffs helps guide the emotional state of the listener, while Restivo’s clattering psychedelic freakouts on “Pissing in an Autumn Forest” are the non-ironic drumming equivalent of that screaming into the abyss scene in Garden State (apologies for sullying this review with a Zach Braff reference).
Despite the density of this release, five minutes is hardly enough time to dig into the band’s inscrutable poetry. It’s hard to imagine that a full-length would be any more enlightening, however; even the alien nature of the EP requires focus and attention. This is a rare case in which the web of metaphor and imagery throughout the EP makes it all the more intimate, and when the desire to understand is more critical than any anticipated or imagined eureka moment.
More Info
Bandcamp: inbath.bandcamp.com