Time To Go Home has a sharp wit and a real sense of nous that doesn’t just rely on the usual “conventions” of being in a band.
Time To Go Home has a sharp wit and a real sense of nous that doesn’t just rely on the usual “conventions” of being in a band.
(Hardly Art) http://www.konkurrent.nl
I didn’t like this LP at first. I thought it was a bit, well, too laconical. Too sussed. The opener Drone is not a welcoming track either; like a hungover MA student lolling around on your mate’s couch after a party and shooting you down at every turn on “politics”, it’s an essay (in song form) in how smart young people who Know Better Than Thou see the world. But – you need to stick in there. In the words of the great John Shuttleworth, don’t be fooled. Listen into Time To Go Home, and have some patience, as this LP has a sharp wit and a real sense of nous that doesn’t just rely on the usual “conventions” of being in a band.
Rather, Chastity Belt allow things to appear to you; there’s a tangible feeling with tracks like Why Try, Joke, or the marvellously mopey On The Floor that suggest, “oh yeah, well, you know we can write pretty good songs”, “we’re quite witty” (Cool Slut, Time to Go Home). There is also something in the stripped back approach that is similar to guitar bands like The Drink, The Wharves or Ought; specifically a patience with, and a trust of, silence as a dynamic to drive the music. Now and again things get rowdy, and to good effect; The Thing is a menacing track that turns on a snaky, bastardised apreggio. It’s a really good LP, once you give it time.