February 20, 2015
REVIEW
We’re at that point in history where the indie rock revival has fully divested itself of ’70s punk and is now fully committed to ripping off ‘90s American slacker indie wholesale, be it Dinosaur Jr., Pavement or Superchunk. Michigan-based Pity Sex have the guitar squall of J Mascis down pat, as demonstrated on the 100mph solo on opener “Wind-up”. But there’re also nods to British shoegaze in the soft, out-of-focus female vocals on “Keep” and “Drown Me Out”, the latter channeling a fair amount of the Smashing Pumpkins’ trademark grungey drone.
Unfortunately, the brisk, punky pace of the album opener doesn’t return at any point in the album, and the only parts of the record that don’t sink into discrete lumps of mostly indistinguishable fuzz are “Drawstring” and “Fold”, which pull a heavy influence from long-forgotten noise-pop of Morella’s Forest, both in terms of the refreshingly melodic fuzz of the guitars and the cherubic female vocals.