Butcher Birds
Eat Their Young
5 Track, EP (2007, MereNoise)
Play All Tracks In New Window
Related: Butcher Birds.
The 90s revival has begun in Brisbane. Violent Soho do the indolence and angst thing, lashing out and then lapsing, but Butcher Birds are harder to classify. Antecedents include L7 and The Breeders (so is ‘The Deal’ for Kelley or Kim?) and they blaze more than they bounce, but ‘Eat Their Young’ also shows a grasp of mood and emotional reckoning. ‘Mower’ falls at the point where sexual energy gives way to anger, while the shuddering hum of ‘The Great Escape’ turns relationship basics into a matter of life and death. The latter finds the quartet – vocalist and guitarist Stacey Coleman, bassist Joanna Nilson (an occasional Mess+Noise correspondent), guitarist Jacinta Walker and drummer Steven Trone – adding menace-heavy harmonies to the mix, emphasising the feminine instinct that undercuts the grunge-friendly rock. Will ’93 be the sound of 2007? Maybe, but when Butcher Birds machine-gun the forces of moderation on ‘The Deal’ with rapid-fire drums and fuzzed-out vocals, the mass of energy on offer makes the timeline irrelevant.
by Craig Mathieson
For those who can’t afford the 125 odd dollars needed to see Fleetwood…
