Monday 21 December 2015

URCHIN - Spine (Album Review)

Release date: December 06th 2015. Label: Self Released. Format: DD

SPINE – Tracklisting

1.SPINE 37:39

Band Members:

Adam Mundorf and Eliese Dorsay.

Review:

I love being in a band. I really do. You get to do all sorts of amazing shit, and get to meet all sorts of amazing people. And then of course there's the music. I've been fortunate enough to stumble across bands I didn't really know about before, who go onto to become the bands I love.

Sometimes you "discover" these bands at shows you're playing, and sometimes at shows that friends are playing and sometimes (this time) they email a link to their band to your band.....

We'd played a show the night before. I'd had too many beers and not enough sleep and was getting ready to drag myself into work, when my phone went off to tell me the band page had a notification. It was a message from Eliese from Urchin saying she liked our new track and feel free to check out their new release. It's 37 minutes long. One track. 37 minutes..... (Longer than our entire album)

Despite my headache I clicked play on the link and thank fuck I did, because what came next is one of the best 37 minutes of new music I've heard in a very long time.

Urchin are a new two piece band who hail from Portland, Oregon USA and play what they describe as "sea sludge". Apparently they've yet to play their first show. What they've just released makes a mockery of their newcomer status as it's a bold, mature, expressive and downright heavy release.

It ebbs and flows like the sea and the creatures beneath it that the band are writing about, and for a piece of music that has that kind of duration never really outstays it's welcome. As the dynamics and tempo shift as the song progresses, quiet becomes loud, slow becomes fast and everything in between. It for me perfectly conjures up images of the sea and the power it holds and will literally pull you under and submerge you with it's sheer weight.

An essential release and one that without a doubt would have made my end of year list had I not already submitted it.

I believe the band are currently working on a physical release but until then you can download it from here https://thebandurchin.bandcamp.com/releases.

Check out the bands Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/abandnamedurchin/?fref=ts

Words by Simon Ross Williams