Bare Hunter – Dry Rot EP
Dry Rot is a calling card, one that reads loud and clear that pigeonholes are for chumps. Just as we thought we had London-based power trio Bare Hunter pegged as a dirty blues-rock band, back they come with a new EP that damn well blows the bloody doors off. Sure, louche frontman Robbie Humphries, guitarist Roger James and drummer Jack Lineham still harness heavy, Zeppelin-style breakdowns and harmonica freakouts as they lurch like a drunkard between uniquely theatrical and humid rock ‘n’ roll, but now the psychedelia they hinted at on their Cabin Fever debut also comes to full fruition, most notably on lengthy ethnic patchwork “Kilamanjaro”. Starting life with simmering Eastern drones and evocative cymbal shimmer, it then slowly winds itself into a worldly and muscular crescendo of some impressive girth.
At the other end of the scale, and never afraid of ruffling a few feathers, “Cash Money” picks up where Cabin Fever’s protest song “What Are We Fighting For?” left off. An impassioned call-to-arms for social egalitarianism, Humphries honks likes a klaxon while denouncing the capitalist state – the hard-hitting, strikingly lean track itself surprisingly poppy all the same. Only a little more subtle but a lot more serious, the title track then sets its top-weighted fuzz tones for the heart of Nick Cave’s Grinderman, while the threatening “She Said” in turn makes the most of a bassy, bottom-end groove. Four tracks. Four aces in the hole. Read them and weep.
~The Dry Rot EP will be released 5th August 2016. Preview it now at Soundcloud below.~