Some ten years on after formation in 2004, vocalist and guitarist Laura Mary Carter, alongside seasoned drummer and joint vocalist Steven Ansell, are still steadfastly traversing through the international gig circuit, having amassed a significant core audience thanks to their concoction of abrasive alternative noise pop through an unrelenting cycle of album releases and extensive touring.
The old adage of hard work paying off has certainly proved dividends where this band are concerned, now at the enviable stage of releasing their fourth studio album when their contemporaries of yesteryear have become mere forgotten components of a genre which has visibly faded in popularity.
Much of this is of little concern to Ansell and Carter, having shut themselves away in a Berlin studio to self-record and produce their new self-titled effort, unmoved by the changing musical landscape outside and any effect it may have on the shape of their sound, something effusively exclaimed by Ansell when he stated there was, ‘No producer, no engineer, no A&R people, just us two in a big concrete room in Kreuzberg, jamming and recording our songs whenever we wanted, how we wanted with nobody to answer to except ourselves’.
The marginally over polished aspects permeating their previous effort, 2012’s ‘In Time To Voices‘, are nowhere to be seen here, the band’s sweat drenched, raucous live shows finally realised in a body of work which sees the shackles completely removed, the duo’s unabashed ambitions fully realised on what may be their finest effort to date.
The distortive Nirvana-esque curdle of noise in starter track ‘Welcome Home’ acts as an announcement to a return to their DIY punk rock roots, while the Queens Of The Stone Age bass fuzz of ‘Everything All At Once’ harbours a further signal of intent to inflect more freedom into the music and lyrical structure as a whole, seeing joint stuttered chorus shouts of ‘Don’t slow me down’ and ‘I’m not waiting for a future that might never come’ during the verses, suggesting a desire to release themselves from any previous ideals of paranoia and negativity.
The piercing lead guitar runs of the ferociously playful ‘An Animal’ hark back to the band’s most endearing early singles, where Ansell takes centre stage before a combined effort on chorus cries of ‘No one ever wants to be alone’ segues into the Laura Mary focused ‘Grey Smoke’, a slower paced grunge trudge detailing a loss of sensory perception for a gloriously hazy affair on all levels.
The face melting pace of the album dials back yet further on the quieter guitar strums of ‘Far Away’, reflective of Teenage Fanclub and Sonic Youth in their most quixotic moments, floating harmonies in the chorus providing a necessary contemplative interlude before the band launch into ‘The Perfect Mess’, where ear piercing guitar instrumentals and pulsating distortion return as they envelop a tale of a broken down relationship.
Further highlights during the latter half include the ghoulish keyboard led ‘Stranger’, Mary imparting a haunting vocal over a series of Addams Family TV show musical styles, while ‘Cigarettes In The Dark’ is a discerning high point as a crescendo filled behemoth makes way for the pared back piano driven closer ‘Tightwire’.
As with all their records, this latest iteration of punk infused blasts provides enough of a departure from previous albums to keep things interesting, with the vocal dynamics of the pair lending themselves to a continually intriguing creative connection which is best viewed live on their forthcoming UK and festival tour in order to fully appreciate Blood Red Shoes’ primal resonance.
