Words: Otis Hayes | Photo: Alex Evans
Released on Speedy Wunderground, The Lounge Society return with their debut long player ‘Tired Of Liberty’. The hotly-anticipated album leads on from the ‘Silk For The Starving’ EP and further showcases the group’s immense talent and boundless passion.
The album opens with ‘People Are Scary’, the choppy funk/soul-esque rhythms immediately remind of Talking Heads, the tempo shifts and the bass sits powerfully low in the mix – vocals are delivered with a raspy undertone, the magic of The Lounge Society grips you through it’s subtle dynamic changes and the breakdowns. Previous singles ’Blood Money’ and ‘No Driver’ up the intensity as ‘Beneath The Screen’ flirts with punchy synths and urgent percussion fills – culminating in an unhinged, grunge-soaked breakdown.
Following on we are met with ’North Is Your Heart’ which offers contrast through it’s calmer and endearing spoken word passages from vocalist Cameron Davey. The intensity that runs through the album is never far away, this time brought through bongos and choppy guitar rhythms.
’Last Breath’ feels like an instant hit, building and falling in euphoric fashion, full of attitude and heart-warming in it’s more minimalist moments. Interestingly, ‘Tired Of Liberty’ as an album would be an excellent instrumental record in it’s own right; as would the lyricism broken down into a short read document. Penultimate track ‘Upheaval’ shows us a more mellow side, bringing the focus to vocal melodies and the in-built groove of the players themselves, it’s a refreshing side of The Lounge Society that one might not imagine having listened to just the pre-album singles.
The pent-up frustration and slow instrumental climb of ‘Generation Game’ acts as the perfect outro, politically-charged in it’s lyricism and brimming with a quiet confidence. The focus is always on the music though, perhaps that’s what sets them apart from the current crop of post-punk acts – shimmering psychedelic breakdowns, mesmeric krautrock corridors and hard-hitting singalong choruses leave a mark on the listener.
hardofhearingmagazine.com 