One feature of the latter part of this
decade has been the vast number of new bands from all corners of the globe citing
post-punk guitar bands as their main inspiration, in particular the likes of
The Chameleons and The Cure, but often also slightly more obscure names such as
The Sound, Sad Lovers and Giants or Modern Eon. The latter’s album Fiction
Tales is often cited as a forgotten classic album of the early 80’s, and
the name of its opening track Second Still was appropriated by Californians
Alex Hartman and Ryan Walker for their third-generation post-punk band.
Bassist Hartman and guitarist Walker
had met in 2007 and through a love of the French coldwave and English post-punk
bands began to record together, laying down hundreds of hours of ideas based
around fast-paced tightly interwoven duelling of reverb-drenched staccato
guitar lines and bubbling bass riffs, effectively replicating the ingredients
of the niche Robert Smith/Steve Severin project The Glove but with results more
akin to their “day job” bands, and therefore reminiscent of Hyaena
era Banshees with a cranked-up metronomic Doktor Avalanche replacing Budgie’s
languid looping beats.
Years of low-fi rehearsals honed their
craft, meaning that by the time (after several false starts) they finally met the
right vocalist for the project, the classically-trained Suki (formerly singer
with psychedelic shoegaze act Sua) in New York in late 2014, they were already
tight enough to make an immediate breakthrough. The debut EP Early Forms
was released in early 2016, and immediately and understandably drew enthusiastic
comparisons with Garlands era Cocteau Twins as well as with the Banshees, with standout
track Two Reasons an excellent example of their sound at this stage.
Spidery McGeoch/Guthrie arpeggios and a syncopated bass motif provide a lush
soundscape for Suki’s dreamy vocal on a song that has 1983 written all over it.
The following year saw the release of
their self-titled LP, a stunning collection of songs (including two from the
original EP) that brought a breath of fresh air to the genre, mixing a strong
female vocal with the up-tempo dark melodic accompaniment that harked back to
the guitar-driven coldwave sound of Baroque Bordello, Tanit, Jad Wio and Mary
Goes Round in France in the late 1980’s. Final track Judgment (sic) with
its thrilling changes of direction and underlying sense of menace is an
excellent example of the energy and melody that underpins the album as a whole.
Unsurprisingly Second Still won many “LP of the year” plaudits
(including on my own list), and brought an invitation to produce a Part-Time
Punks session (released as an EP in early 2018 and featuring a version of For
Against’s Echelons).
A further EP Equals broadened the
sound’s sonic palette a little further, re-introducing a more overt Banshees
guitar and a harder-edged sound overall, with a harsher drum sound higher in
the mix, notably on the track Automata, which encouragingly strayed more
into Whispering Sons territory, whilst other tracks went more towards the dark coldwave
pop of Dubstar or the string-bending claustrophobia of Curve.
This sadly turned out to be a
pre-cursor of their future direction, with sophomore album Violet Phase
continuing the move away from a guitar-based sound on some tracks and featuring
a stricter coldwave beat with a sumptuously produced sequenced keyboard
backing, with the best tracks (such as Idyll) combining both elements, but they
have now more in common with quirky dark coldwave pop acts like VOWWS or Drab
Majesty (a very saturated end of what is a limited market) than with the
Cocteau Twins. Whilst their sound has undeniably progressed with every release,
it could be claimed that in the process they have lost many of the elements
that made them so unique in the first place, although the song-writing remains
as well-developed as ever.
Second Still’s music can be bought on
an impressive variety of formats via their Bandcamp page.
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