‘I live in a hot house, get out’ bawls Nick Sakes in the first few seconds of opener ‘Hot House’, and these few seconds express the essence of
Economy of Motion; tense, panic stricken and weirdly confrontational. Not confrontational in a brutish way mind you, but more sort of suspicious;
EoM comes out all yelpy and leering, swinging wildly like a drunk snake darting back and forth with little discretion for its surroundings. The guitars are a jagged mix of janky jutting rhythms that Sakes yelps and sneers over as he pleases, with the chaos emphasising the choice phrases that cut through (I’ve had the words ‘slippery, and accidental’ , which coincidentally describe the album well, stuck in my head the last month for this reason). According to the label the improvisational feel and nature of the LP resulted in it being displayed in the jazz section at Books and Borders, and I can see why. Riffs and motifs cut off before they complete their journey, like they're giving up, midway through a piece that they couldn’t be bothered with finishing due to fear of repeating themselves.
