Debt Dept

Excepter

Paw Tracks

2008-04-07

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Excepter’s latest, Debt Dept, is a rumbling sprawl of rough vocal prods, moans and shouts over repeating musical motifs and foggy electronics. A leftfield protest ethic permeates the album, which the press release is keen to impart is the group’s fourth and which sees the light courtesy of the lo-fi-loving Paw Tracks imprint. That the group’s releases have previously gone out through labels like Load and 5 Rue Christine gives nod to new arrivals to the group of both the generally noisy and experimental aspects that characterise their sound, however it is the muddiness of the melange, or perhaps the melee, which makes Paw Tracks such an appropriate place for the group to now call home.

Clouds of hum and mantra-like riff-repetition characterise the pieces offered here, with the opening gambit “Entrance” setting the tone and mood perfectly for what follows. A noise-edged guitar line moves the song forward with group intoned vocals offering a sense of unease and a hint of menace, alongside a thudding heart that slowly drives on until half way through the track out of the dense texture the beat realises a hint more complexity in the song’s natural rhythm, to interesting effect.

there is a sense of community in this noise

On some tracks the synthetic beats take a more forceful and forward approach whereas others are led by vocal riffs or a droning techno wash but as is often the case all of the elements seems somehow part of each other and nothing works as either forefront or background. There is a sense of community in this noise and because of the multiple vocalists present (including two new females), however the parts can often work against each other tonally and though this sometimes pulls off something fascinatingly captivating it can also work as a negative and disconcerting aspect.

Debt Dept is destined to turn some listeners away from minute one however the bubbling and bouncing beats anchor the songs in to a catchiness (not unlike groups like Black Dice, Fuck Buttons and even label-mates Animal Collective) and the majority of efforts here are greater and greater on repeat listens. With moments offering weird avant-dub, random hip-hop and disco styles and a constant morphing array of crackling, hissing and arpeggiating electronic sounds and instrumental noise this is another interesting Excepter record, in fact perhaps one of their better.