We are counted in with tapping drumsticks, and soon after comes the realisation that the ‘Wrecking Ball’ is both epitomised and controlled from beginning to end by Tristan DuVal’s stomping drum beat. A strong but delicate vocal from singer Billy Traxler is encased within the pulsating rhythm, which is thickened by a deep dark off the beaten track bassline
The beat is so strong that the guitar is free to go berserk in a slowly rising, screaming and panicked rhythm of its own despite the delicacy during the opening few bars.
Of the EP’s four offerings, the other highlight is without doubt the almost-country ‘get drunk and pour out your heart’ number ‘Credit Card’, which puts the plastic on a pedestal and then obsesses like a tormented lover. This simple play on words is deceptively sharp, with humorous results despite the introspective melody.
‘Insomniac' is surely set somewhere along the Great West Road. Underneath the Heathrow flightpath zones, a piano melody soothes the repetitive vocal hookline, through a stop-starting song based around a thinking man's acoustic arpeggio (that sounds as clear as a bell throughout the EP).
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When it kicks in, the first soundwaves could easily blow a speaker, or an eardrum, or induce a heart attack, so be warned. Wah pedals and distortion sit on top of a restless whining feedback, only that demented electric riff standing between your Wigans and a good hiding.*
Ending with ‘Carry On’, a mini epic played out on acoustic guitar that gets its huge sound from a classical string arrangement, there are splashes of pure quality and a strong delivery in all four songs.
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* 'Wigans'(abbr). - Wigan piers = ears.
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