Bang! Bang!
The Dirt That Makes You Drown (Morphius)
By Caroline Evans
Published: June 14th, 2007 | 11:12pm
If a band credits itself with basically inventing a subgenre it calls “sex-rock” you might be inclined to a few preconceived notions that involve glitter, space boots, microphone fellatio, campy lyrics featuring exotic animals, and over-the-top guitar solos. Basically, an over-glorified T. Rex tribute act.
But fear not. Bang! Bang!’s second full-length, The Dirt That Makes You Drown, is chock full of chunky guitar riffs, interesting and straightforward lyrics, and musical influences that vary from glam to post-punk to prog-rock to whatever they’re calling it that’s coming out of the U.K. these days.
Most of the songs on The Dirt That Makes You Drown are frenzied slashes of guitar buzz washed in cymbal crashes. Energetic keyboard pulses (reminiscent, of all things, of Franz Ferdinand) occasionally bleed through the tracks.
But unlike most dance-rock outfits, Bang! Bang! excels at writing the occasional ballad. The somewhat proggy “I Could Die” is a stripped-down, dreamlike song with lazy guitar picking and an ominous organ. The lyrics would be hilarious in just about any other context (it’s hard not to think of John Hughes when hearing “She was pretty in pink / I wish it was me”), but they prove haunting when recited in Gretta Fine’s droning vocals.
This isn’t music that will change your life, or even change the way you think about music. But you will have a good time.
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