Comment:
Pen & Mallet involves an universe of bands and behind the musical
groups is an universe of styles and genres of less and more
experimental sort. With all those bands is involved a man called J. C
Thorne. It is quite startling to read that J. C Thorne thinks of
Choke as the most experimental band he is being involved in despite
it is a relatively poppy group in comparison to others (for instance,
I recommend listen to aboombong, Psychic Enemies, Dustdevil &
Crow etc). The musician’s explanation is based on the approach of
creating music to the band where music for the guitar-based
soundscape is written by him who in fact cannot play the instrument
at all (J. C Thorn is the drummer in the project). Furthermore, the
other musicians have changed their roles with one another either.
More concretely, I think of Alexander Orchid to be the most
blatantly poppy issue on it due to those bombastic guitar riffs and
David Liso`s flamboyant singing that fills the air unarguably. In
fact, it is managed to the extent of chiming as an example of kitsch
pop. Indeed, it is also an experimental approach. Another aspect
related to the pop music scene is singing about romantic
relationships and (ex)girlfriends in a doleful and even accusing
manner. On the other side, the musicians like to demonstrate their
teeth frequently to counterpoint mellow and softened approach. A nice
example is Barcelona where the exuberant guitar line
progresses into cacophonous noise. The favourite of mine is the final
track Sheltering, an instance of light-hearted art pop. Browse
is something of a very wicked one because in the beginning using an
obscure, highly buried exploitation-alike storytelling being pointed
against homosexuality and flabby behaviour (or at least something
similar like that), which in the final part will be jettisoned in
favour of a pummelling hardcore and technical metal blended torrent.
In a nutshell, it is a mind-provoking issue.
