Blood Red Shoes – Water EP
- Written by Rob Barker
Following on from last year’s In Time To Voices, The Water EP is clearly a product of its environment, and something of a departure from the (mostly) subdued atmospheric sound of its predecessor.Where their last full length record included something of an ebb and flow, moving between the soft melancholy of 'Two Dead Minutes' and a more harsh-edged, straightforward rock sound, Water is very much in the same vein of the latter.
Recorded in Dallas and apparently inspired by driving around America, Water has a far rawer sound than the majority of the band’s previous output. From the opening feedback of ‘Red River’ complete with fuzzy guitars and hooky riffs, this is a far more immediate record, a straightforward kick to the head rather than the band’s previous ‘stalk and ambush’ approach.
The rest of the EP carries on as the intro track began, with ‘Black Distractions’ featuring a heavily detuned guitar, or a bass, it’s tricky to tell. Despite all of the grit, the trademark glassy vocals of Carter and Ansell remain, before the track collapses under the weight of feedback and distorted harmonics.
The three track EP rounds off with ‘Idle Hands’, which encompasses some of the sounds heard on In Time To Voices, taking the punk vibe seen on ‘Je Me Perds’ and softening it somewhat, steeping its frantic rawness in an American glaze, while retaining the band’s characteristic vocals. The mix of almost funereal vocals and sped-up Sabbath-like riffing creates an uneasy vibe, and it’s one that suits the rest of the EP perfectly.
With Water, Blood Red Shoes have harnessed a specific part of their sound, taking all of their more raw moments and concentrating them into three tracks of grit, while disposing of any of the ambient moments from their previous releases. You can’t help but agree with the story behind the record’s creation; this is the kind of music that feels most at home in an open top Chevy with nothing but miles of tarmac for company.
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