Review

Los Angeles quartet HEALTH have taken a radical new change of direction, producing an album of lovelorn, acoustic ballads that should soon see them share stadium stages with the likes of Coldplay and David Gray. Actually, that’s a complete lie. In fact Get Color is, much like 2007’s self-titled debut, a slab of uncompromising noise rock. Ferocious guitars and blood-curdling synth whines rub up against frantic (and, frankly, fantastic) drumming, obscuring half-buried, eerie and completely incomprehensible vocal melodies. If that sounds like a bit of a head-fuck, well, that’s because it is. An uncomfortable and, at times, downright unsettling listen, for all that it’s quite enjoyably bracing, with one stand-out stonker in the shape of the quite brilliant ‘Die Slow’, a track that almost seems out of place by dint of having, y’know, an actual tune. An admirable effort, then – but you’re still quite relieved it’s only half an hour long. Neill Dougan

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DOWNLOAD: ‘DIE SLOW’, ‘WE ARE WATER’.
FOR FANS OF: SWANS, MY BLOODY VALENTINE.

Posted on: 27th January 2010

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