Pity Sex – Feast Of Love
There’s at least two mid-Atlantic releases hitting the shelves in April. Out next week there’s the widescreen indie-Americana of American Wrestlers and this week Michigan four-piece Pity Sex’s Feast Of Love. Given the analogy it’s ironic, then, that the two are oceans apart. Where American Wrestlers has deep roots in folk, Feast Of Love, a re-release of Pity Sex’s 2013 debut, leans squarely on shoegaze fuzz. The two share a love of British indie though, Feast Of Love residing at the end of the shoegaze spectrum that placed an importance on audible lyrics, melody and early 90s guitar hooks. It’s a very familiar record that’d be at home on a label like Marshall Teller as a result, but so too would there be few eyebrows raised if were uncovered as a lost statement from the scene’s halcyon days.
The re-release comes ahead of an upcoming follow-up and will be issued with a bonus 7” of non-album tracks. Of these, “Acid Reflex” is the standout, guitars swirling around the local indie disco with a sneering pop-punk edge. For the most part its distorted guitars take the place of choruses – that is until a punchy one comes along: “I need love / I need drugs / I need books / I need God.” American muscle is added to the mix courtesy of strong drums and heavy bass, “Drown Me Out” cruising a Pixies/Breeders vibe, vocalists Brennan Greaves and Britty Drake exchanging disinterested accounts of their love lives. “There’s nothing to talk about when we talk about love” they sing, interrupting each another in a cute inversion of the Raymond Carver-esque turn of phrase.
Though Feast Of Love is full of common experience, hangovers, failed romances, etc., it paints youth as a pretty lonely place all the same. Add to this the incessant drizzle of fuzz and deadpan male/female vocals and it’s an album that makes for quite a miserable listen. Mercifully, then, a number of cool solos in tracks like “Honey Pot” and “Wind-Up” help raise the head from its centre-parted lair of curtains. Woozy whammy-bar indulgence becomes swoonsome over time, too, lending this enjoyable retrospective a day-dreaming quality that helps remove it from day-to-day drudgery, which, when you think about it, is exactly what this sort of indie-rock is all about.
Best track: “Wind-Up”
~Feast Of Love is re-released April 20th 2015 via Run For Cover. Limited to 500 vinyl copies and comes with a 7” of two non-album tracks.~