Tremors

Album review

By the time they made Tremors, the KVB were ready to revisit the fundamentals of their music: post-punk, industrial, and their attendant moods of claustrophobia, paranoia, and alienation. Kat Day and Nicholas Wood's seventh album makes it clear just how much affinity they have for this frame of mind. With its spidery guitar lines and surging gloom, the title track nails the archetypal post-punk sound; on "Deep End," Wood delivers lyrics like "Looking to find my way in" with a detachment that harks back to Wire at their most aloof. The KVB adds a twist to these classic sounds by transforming them into what they describe as "dystopian pop." Throughout Tremors, they do their best to live up to both parts of that brief. Where they expressed the splendid isolation of being in spaces abandoned by humans with gliding, airy tracks on their previous album Unity, this time Wood and Day convey the loneliness of being trapped in a crumbling society with densely packed sonics and beats that shake the ground. "Labyrinths"' jolting industrial pulse makes it a standout, along with the abrasive yet hypnotic dance floor mover "A Thirst" and "Overload," a pairing of driving rhythms and fatalistic thoughts that sums up Tremors' "things are terrible, so let's party" outlook perfectly. Even though Unity was inspired by architecture, Tremors is far more structured, making for some of the KVB's catchiest music. A nagging synth hook animates "In the Silence," and there's even a cowbell tucked into "Negative Drive"'s misanthropic swagger. However, Wood's whispery vocals and the blurred textures surrounding them ensure that he and Day never sound like they're trying too hard on "Words"' heady synth-gaze or "Dead of Night"'s blurry hedonism. Though Tremors is slightly more predictable than Unity was, it's just as consistent, and its pitch-black grooves offer dour comfort listening to anyone who loves the KVB's inspirations as much as they do.

© Heather Phares /TiVo