Stress Positions

Collapsing Scenery

Metropolitan Indian Records, 2019

http://www.collapsingscenery.com

REVIEW BY: Tom Haugen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 08/26/2019

Comprised of Don Devore (Ink & Dagger, The Icarus Line) and Reggie Debris, Collapsing Scenery bring an artistic and cultured approach to their song craft, where today's version of electro-pop is blurred creatively on this debut double album.

“I Never Knew” starts things off with just soft vocals before quiet instrumentation and female voices enter the equation as the song grows more ambient. “New World Brothers,” with DAM, follows, and brings us right into busy dance-rock meets post-punk where much attention is paid to mood with forthright lyrics, and “All The Way Alive” continues that theme with electro-pop influences in the buzzing tune.my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

Deeper in the listen we are offered the percussion-heavy “Years Of Lead (Are Back Again),” a quick-paced blast of melody and rhythm destined for the late-night club soundtrack, while “Sisyphus Of The Negev” brings us into sparse territories with elegance and experimental ideas that flirt with goth tendencies.

The back half of the album is equally mesmerizing, and includes the hypnotic playfulness of “Forbidding Forbidding,” which recruits hints of the early days of alt-rock, while “Angkar” reveals a dense industrial feeling to this ominous highlight.

Near the end, “Bush Mama Blues” finds a place to reside amid spacey sounds and atypical pop sensibilities, and “The Blue And The Black” unfolds with a soulful approach. “Kill The Indian, Save The Man” ends the lengthy affair with a breezy, almost tropical feeling, and multiple vocals to the textured, adventurous exit.

Even though Collapsing Scenery provides much entertainment in their iconoclastic prowess, there's a deeply political angle to the record, where Devore's punk roots are still present, and that approach, combined with their noisy, sometimes abrasive dynamics makes Stress Positions one of the most interesting and important releases of 2019.

Rating: A-

User Rating: Not Yet Rated


Comments

 








© 2019 Tom Haugen and The Daily Vault. All rights reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of Metropolitan Indian Records, and is used for informational purposes only.