by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Boston’s favorite blown out weirdos in Blue Ray are back at it yet again, set to release their latest album, Live Laugh Love, on November 14th via Illegally Blind and Midnight Werewolf. Noted as their final album as a duo, the band’s sound has always been sort of the opposite of high definition, let’s lovingly call it “lo-def,” and they’ve never sounded better (thanks in part to mixing/mastering by Jack Pombriant). Bursting with noise and feedback, Johnny Steines (guitar/vocals) and Aidan Breen (drums/vocals) have always managed to wrangle the most dissonant and discordant textures into vibrant songs (real songs… not just a smattering of creative noise). Everything remains forever on the verge of collapse and yet Blue Ray keep it all in place, deafening volumes of fuzz and mud used to actually enhance their heavy melodies. We’ve been big fans of everything the band has done thus far and we’re eager to see what lies ahead, but Live Laugh Love is as welcome a farewell to the duo line-up as they come.
The band’s ramshackle sound still has that “devil may care” attitude that Blue Ray excel at, but any time spent really listening to this record (especially on headphones) is a constant reminder that there’s so much more to their spitfire punk songs than sheer volume and lo-fi chaos. Songs like “Evil Dream” dig into garage punk under a mountain of distortion, tearing into sludgy riffs and shattered screams, and yet there’s still an element that feels “chill.” Maybe it’s the band’s mind-state but no matter how far off the rails they veer, they are always firmly in control; from the Butthole Surfers reminiscent “Smack Me” to hypnotic and primal ooze of album opener “Dressing Up.” The band often lock into a rhythm and then convulse in place until everything feels deranged, highlighted on tracks like “Silver Toilette” (which should appeal to Urochromes fans) and “Singe Cafe,” a slacker rock anthem that’s given new life in blown out technicolor. The tempos shift, the band twist and shake, the atonal feedback comes and goes, but it’s all quintessential Blue Ray.