by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Bambara could just be our favorite of Brooklyn's post-punk bands these days. It's not a contest or anything... but they are certainly among the upper echelon. The band's dark Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds influence works perfectly into their claustrophobic and cinematic songs, evident throughout Shadow On Everything, the trio's incredible new record. Embracing the dirt of noise rock and the twang of western-tinged punk noir, the band writhe and pound, burning a trail in their wake of desolate and depraved narratives, their character development rarely pleasant. It's rather cinematic, faded in sepia tones and cigarette burns.
"Sunbleached Skulls" is built on discomfort, a song that portrays distrust, filth, and deranged dreams with imagery of flies, burnt scalps, and dried up bones. William Brookshire's thudding bass line and Blaze Bateh's dense polyrhythmic drums drag the low end deeper and deeper, the only light shining from the guitars burning Western Gothic melodies, ringing out like a bad trip in the vast desert. For all it's darkness however, there's a sense of companionship that arrives in the end, Reid Bateh slurring, "Something washes up onto the beach / Yeah it's half eaten but it's still movin' / You reach out and grab my hand / We watch it struggle in the sand / And all the seagulls start to sing". It's not exactly ice cream and rainbows, but there's a sense of belonging and a comfort in the discomfort.
Bambara's Shadow On Everything is out April 6th via Wharf Cat Records.