You Can’t Improve An Animal
Cream Cloud, 2020
9/10
Listen to You Can’t Improve An Animal
An extremely exciting duo from California and Chile, Matt Dickey (guitar, vocals, bass, synth) and Matt Garfein (drums) make up Altered Labyrinth, and the pair create some pretty giant swells of post-punk, but also don’t shy away from calmer ebbs on this 3rd album.
“In The Embers Of A Giant Fire” starts the album with throbbing bass, plenty of fuzz and thumping drums in the loud, post-punk fueled setting that also offers brief moments of dreaminess, and “The Maggot’s Tail” follows with a similar intensity, though with a bit more melodica buried amid the nearly psychedelic haze.
Closer to the middle, the title track glides near modern indie-rock territory, though certainly with plenty of grit and calculated racket, while “The Gentle Tapping” gets a bit weird with an eccentric, artistic approach. “Half Of A Thought”, one of the record’s best, then builds into dense, angular walls of sonic pounding that parallels the greatness of all your favorite ‘90s punk legends.
Deeper still, “Waking In A Horrid Mask With Me” is a gentler moment with a slight jangle, and “Fleeing From The Icy Fingers” exits the listen alternating between soft ebbs of melody and mammoth bursts of visceral, pulsating energy.
Altered Labyrinth have been at it since 2014, and how they’ve remained in relative obscurity is beyond me, cause this is top notch songwriting for those who enjoy luminaries like My Bloody Valentine, Wire or even Joy Division.
Travels well with: Bob Mould- Blue Hearts; The Persian Leaps- Bicycle Face