Tape Tuesday: ‘Above Board,’ the ragged new LP from Daisy Chains (Tour kickoff show THURSDAY!)
As you can see below, Above Board, the new LP from local group Daisy Chains, is available digitally for your listening pleasure via the outstanding Night People label. When I first got the album a month or so ago, I only had it on tape, and in hindsight it was the best way to dive into this rustic, rambling collection of songs. The six tracks on Above Board are ragged, frazzled, tense and caustic; they are songs that feel so tightly wound that they could snap, and even more dissonant when gargling out of a tape player. The songs have a almost country feel to them, and the spirit of bands like Pavement is baked into this record. Clever melodies and quirky arrangements are seemingly spit out with reckless abandon, talent lobbed at listers with a shrug of the shoulders. This isn’t totally surprising when you know the band started as a side project of more wild bands Miami Dolphins and Tree Blood, but it does make the jangle seem even more arresting.
Ranging from twangy finger picked guitar to garage pop to grunge, the songs are glued together with lead singer E.A. Bambery earthy yelps that bring to mind PJ Harvey or Holly Hansen (formerly Zoo Animal). The album is a quick and dirty tour through a desert landscape of left-of-center songwriting, and one that offers layers and layers of nuance to keep you coming back. You can stream the album below, and the band are hosting a tour kickoff show on Thursday (3/31) at the Eagles Club with Gay Henry, Lunch Dutchess and Ob Chod Na Korze. More about the other acts and RSVP HERE.
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