This is a shiny beast of an album. It arrives in camouflage, but those hand-drawn skulls on the cover would perhaps be more at home on a heavy metal fan’s high-school folder, because this disc is unashamedly grown up. Set My Bones is clever, heavy pop, which wears a glossy sheen over a drunken sweaty snarl, and gets the balance just right. Accomplished without being overdone, the overall impression is of good ideas being channeled via some pretty fierce independence.

It kicks off with ‘The Gate’, a stretched-out tease of an opening. Guitars build tension before the whole thing kicks in with a crash, paving the way for some breathy, and frankly quite steamy vocals, from Stacey Coleman. ‘Bare Arms’ takes a different angle, with shifting riffs and multi-layered voices keeping the whole thing as blurred as an afternoon on codeine and gin. Judging from the lyrics, which seem to deal with the aftermath of a break up, numb probably isn’t a bad way to be. When I was a teenager, the phrase ‘Stone Fox’ was the kind of self-conscious Americanism only used by 15-year-old wannabes. Here, it’s a grinding, chugging stream of sarcasm that cuts loose with self-loathing halfway through.

The highlight of the album comes late in the day, with the distinctly radio-unfriendly ‘Yoko Coma’, which runs for seven-and-a-half minutes. It’s hard to discern what it’s about – even after listening to it 30 times. Is it really as simple as the opening line: “The thing that makes me want to stay here is the sound of your guitar”? The “set my bones” line that give the album its title is in the mix here too. Perhaps a lyric sheet is in order for next time? Regardless, while always being anchored by solid bass, the tune stretches itself up and down a few fretboards, across a couple of fuzz pedals and straight into your ear.

The only thing here that doesn’t quite hit the mark is ‘Amp’, where drummer Donovan Miller takes over on vocals. Without wanting to make an issue of the female element here, you can find boys singing straight-up grunge-rock pretty easily elsewhere. Recent live sightings show that on stage, the Butcher Birds have more rough edges, more agreeably grimy punch, than on record. But if you missed their previous EP, Set My Bones is a great place to start.

by Trevor Block