by Nathan Springer (@drownloading)
Lance Bangs (fka Colin Thibodeauxxx) just released their semi-eponymous EP Lance Mountain, a brief but tantalizing glimpse of what this Richmond three-piece has to offer. With five songs flying by in barely over ten minutes, there is little time for digestion here; everything hits you all at once, which is probably best given the directness of the songs.
Things start out with a bang (sorry, I had to) on “Dig”, which gets more across with two chords and one minute and forty-five seconds than many entire albums do; its hypnotic lull of guitars is offset by distorted, high-register yelps. “Sneakin’Out” relies, like many of the songs on the album, on the repetition of and variations on one infectious musical phrase. The highlight of the album is also the halfway point, “#1 Single Released On 4/20”, which sounds like Real Estate on the verge of a panic attack. The lyrics on Lance Mountain are unabashedly adolescent, diving headfirst into “young love,” drunken nights, and feeling down. “Football” riffs on some of these topics with an endearingly snotty vocal delivery, while closer “Let It Grow” ends on an emotional cliffhanger, with all of the wound-up feelings on the album left unresolved. This makes sense considering the anxiety that permeates the album.
Lance Bangs do what they do very well. The songs on Lance Mountain serve as the perfect soundtrack to the end of summer; all of the emotional heights, aimlessness nights, and optimism for the future bundled into one tightly knit collection of songs. The primary feeling I had upon finishing this album was one of excitement for the next thing that these self-proclaimed slackers from Virginia will release.