- It’s been said of The Electric Guitars that they’re actually two bands. There’s one that makes some pretty classic rock jams, finely crafted and actually pretty easy on the ear. Then there’s the other that rolls out like a shockwave, a pain barrier produced by a carpet of effects pedals, turning those sweet songs into a wall of destruction.
I got that off the Melbourne band’s second LP, Sideways Changeling, really strongly (and no, not just because it’s super-loud). The difference between listening to it on a set of headphones and letting it thunder out of the stereo was surprisingly stark. Fortunately, whether it’s being able to pick out the pleasant cello accompaniment or being buffeted by the industrial sludge of the rhythm guitar, broken only by the scream of the lead solo, striking like a bushmaster, I’ll take either one.
Speaking of the sludge, it seems much more predominant on the new LP. On their first, self-titled effort back in 2015 you could hear a much more self-conscious effort to experiment with sounds like kraut, space-rock and psychedelia and that was great! Come 2018 and much of that has dropped by the wayside...but it doesn’t feel like a loss. Instead it feels like The Electric Guitars have been through their journeyman stage, where they tried their hand at everything and they’ve come out the other end, confidently, even masterfully, with a signature sound. It subsumes all the others in this sweet pop-rock, dressed up as monstrous, shaggy beast of a style. Seriously, listening to Postcard From The Deep is like hearing the Hoodoo Gurus covered by the Melvins.
Interestingly, the only music video the EGs have done recently was for a song called Death From Beside, featuring a classic motorik beat and just a strong tuneful krautiness peaking through the fuzz like you’re listening to Moon Duo. The reason it’s interesting, other than that it’s a pretty good song, is that while it made it on to a 7” with album cut Three Body Problem, it didn’t actually make it on to Sideways Changeling; out with the old and in with the new!
This record, it's completely the opposite of the ‘difficult second album’ phenomenon. I guess you can put some of that down to the lengthy and serious CV that the various members bring from bands like Rocket Science, Ooga Boogas and a slew of others. Trying to get some distance from the enjoyment I’m having here, it’s easy to imagine that the sludge I find so engaging is going to be -equally- repellant to a lot of listeners and that it’ll completely obscure the sweet pop hooks that it festoons like the diseased expression of some hideous, genetic mutation. Nonetheless, I commend you to embrace it. I reckon The Electric Guitars have a sensibility that may well prove to be on the level of The Drones (and quite a few direct resemblances besides). Sideways Changeling puts in a lot of the hard yards proving it.
- Chris Cobcroft.