Review Summary: it's all in my head it's all in my head
In the current New Zealand rock climate, there aren’t many bands that can make a claim to genuinely dynamic rock without distortion. Shihad fell to the loudness war in 2014’s
FVEY, and while protégés Villainy sounded good on 2015’s
Dead Sight, being produced by Shihad’s drummer hurt their chances. Beastwars brought the dynamics back for
The Death of All Things this year, but the sludge has always been essential to their sound. Devilskin are too busy being the new Evanescence to drop the gain or the crunch. So who do you have?
Here’s where Courtney Hate enters, an all-girl band releasing their first EP at the end of their high school years, and showing their contemporaries that rock doesn’t need to rely on the distortion pedal or taping the volume knob to 11. This is immediately apparent in the opening track “Nein Senpai Poisson,” with a slithery reverbing guitar line reminiscent of the xx weaving between a 3/4 rhythm, effortlessly swapping between pounding and foreboding. The melodies themselves are not particularly technical, but the interplay between guitar and bass – whether they double down on the melodies or overlap and echo each other – lifts it to a higher standard. If there's any criticism, it's that being an EP, there isn't much room to experiment, and the band's sonic identity is routinely set out through the three songs. Nonetheless, the band excels at this less-is-more philosophy in songwriting, getting more emotion out of a small bend than a scale run.
Despite labeling themselves as grungy, Courtney Hate might be more aptly described as a gloomier Television. They certainly have the chops; “DOGS” dallies in 5/4 in its bridge, and vocalist Jami Kerrigan swaps between a less Scottish Dolores O’Riordan to a sustained yelp in an instant. The stutter triplet intro of “This is not ironic, watch me while i cry” also sets drummer Xanthe Brookes as one of the best up-and-coming drummers on the scene, and even that fails to take into account the rest of the song. Beyond their instrumental proficiency, their lyrics hold up as well. Kerrigan’s lyrics may be more personal than Tom Verlaine’s, but a turn of phrase like “You think that you are the only saving grace, but you fill me with disgrace” is just as sharp.
Sleepwalking itself may very well be conceptual. There's a distinct aura of neglect across the three songs; a verbally poisonous 'other', projecting delusions, in “Nein Senpai Poisson”; the “absent mind of this generation” in DOGS; and the band themselves, being taught “how it feels to feel like nothing" as the EP winds to a close. This is a world of winter leaves, and and Courtney Hate watches it all, wishing they were sleepwalking. It's not entirely hopeless, but it falls to the brink.
There are not many bands achieving what Courtney Hate set out to achieve on
Sleepwalking – no matter whether the bands are double their age or exactly the same – and the EP is a breath of fresh air as a result. This is a band that knows exactly what they’re doing, and with more recordings, perhaps they can do it even better. It’s already fantastic as it is, all the same.
