Billed as uplifting cacophonous craftsmen” from Manchester, the four young Englishmen behind Chew Magna’s eponymous debut album arrive with all guns blazing. Their cues are taken from Punk, No Wave, Krautrock, Indie Pop and Noise.
Operating on a strictly first names basis, they are Joel on bass, Simon on guitar, Ben on drums, Laurie on guitar and vocals. “We wanted to create a really varied record that gives a nod to loads of our favourite bands from the 70’s onwards and isn’t necessarily beholden to traditional, vocal led song structures” explains Laurie. The bands cited as faves include Fugazi, Sonic Youth and Broken Social Scene.
The first of nine songs is Listless in which a full throttle motoric beat backs lyrics about overcoming apathy. The same formula,and theme,is applied to Watching Paint Dry. One might call theme high energy beats to document a low energy lifestyle. In Punk Dick a languid 3 minute instrumental rock bursts into life for one minute of frenzied punk.
Chew Magna still need to find their own voice but they clearly have energy to spare and are a band to watch.
