This
is the debut album of a new three-piece comprised of some industry stalwarts:
Joe Lally and Brendan Canty (otherwise known as Fugazi’s rhythm section) along with experimental guitarist Anthony
Pirog. It’s hard to describe The
Messthetics: the best I’ve come up with is ‘instrumental post-hardcore
progressive math rock’. Good luck unpicking that… I think the Fugazi connection probably gives some
insights as to what to expect, and other touchstones might be ‘Foals at their least commercial (without
vocals)’, or ‘less aggressively experimental Battles’. Although at times this also detours into much stranger
dreamscapes (see ‘Radiation Fog’, and ‘The Inner Ocean’, the latter of which is
very Mogwai). For the most part,
however, it’s Pirog’s dextrous, precise guitar that’s front and centre here, propelling
some very ‘angular’ experimental rock. See the persistent ‘Quantum Path’ or the
Cave In style ‘Crowds and Power’ for
exemplars.
sample track: Quantum Path