Basement Family: Eerie Ennui LP

This is a tough one to explain, but that’s part of what makes it so intriguing to listen to. Like contemporaries in bands such as Almanac Man or Kinghorn, or even Season To Risk if you want to go way back, Basement Family blend a handful of styles into a cohesive whole without any of it sounding forced, or out of place.  But it still makes for a wholly unique sound that can be tough to nail down. There’s plenty of Midwest indie rock influence throughout with twangy, jittery rock consistent with aspects of the Touch and Go catalog.  And there’s also a whole lot of long-game, thought-out portions that insist the listener invest the time into the sound. Shifting from delicate, softly cooed melodies to noisy-feedback sections falling off the rails, and into chunky rhythmic passages Basement Family tend to write longer songs. That’s not to say this is intended to be enjoyed with a furrowed brow, necessitating that one absorb themselves into the record completely to squeeze out some degree of pleasure from the exercise in patience. There’s some really catchy parts in here too. “Head Retention” leads with ethereal vocals, carried by an up-tempo boogie throughout that eventually builds into an intense stop-start guitar claxon and a tumbling crescendo. “Serial Queen” does the slow shuffle with a fun, noodly guitar riff backing it while “Struggle Run” has a strong bass riff with a wavering guitar strum and repeating high-end melody coming back over and over. If heavy distortion were applied to it all it could become a post-hardcore anthem. A band such as this may kind their closest kin in groups like Knot (or Krill) in terms of being this smart, but noisy, and rather mysterious kind of entity.

Red or gold vinyl in full colour sleeve with insert.