Two and half decades since the band’s debut“Stook Footage” EP on Shock in 1995, and the legendary debut LP “North Sea Clean“, Australian mid-90s guitar rockers based in Melbourne, S:BAHN, comprised of original founder members Kristian Brenchley (guitar), Dik (guitar/vocals) and Denis Leadbeater (drums) with new bass player Rene Schaefer, also part of dark post-punkers Banish, are finally approaching the long-awaited sophomore album “Queen of Diamonds”, due to be released on Feb 22, 2021, Vinyl 12″ & Digital, through Parisian label Polaks Records, with another track preview in the form of the turbulent “We Move”, a dissection of a fading relationship, whose esoteric lyrics explore progress as an illusion set against the rusty backdrop of time, motion, and deception.
The 4-piece deftly combines the jagged, tight, and jittery cadences of late ’70s/early ’80s post-punk with freewheeling jangly, post-rock-ish 6-string chords, where, driven by hypnotic punchy rhythms, expressive, confessional spoken vocals of brooding, atmospheric disconnection, interweave with skittering and neat guitar tones, equally melodic and plaintive, pouring visceral energy into steadily changing tones of dissonance and harmony coming straight from the heart.
A deeply repetitive, pulsating rhythm section builds the obsessive, strained spine for wandering, piercing melodic guitar fragments along with expansive riffage abrasion, that relentlessly sizzle, chime, buzz, screech, cry, spewing sparks of billowing, jittery, dazzling frustration, echoing hectic exasperated sung-spoken vocals, both sardonic and huskily alluring, bursting with raw sheer emotive energy, while releasing rambling miscommunications into the metaphorical grind of dystopian doom.
S:BAHN‘s second 9-track LP “Queen of Diamonds”, is slated for release on Feb 22, 2021, on Vinyl 12″ & Digital, via Parisian label Polaks Records.
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