by Myles Dunhill (@MylesDunhill)
With a name that wouldn’t seem out of place on and old Load Records compilation, and with a penchant for chaotic noise punk that many of those outfits share, Divorce Cop are unique from their more deliberately difficult peers in their free-spirited approach and embrace of pop hooks. One only has to take note of the interesting formation of the group; essentially the creative outlet of drummer, Chris Gervais, taking time out from his other bands Nice Life and Toothbrush, ended up recording a bunch of solo drum demos on his phone. Those snippets found their way to Brock Ginther of bands, Kid Pedestrian and Midwestern Medicine, and bassist Anthony Bitetti of Great Western Plain who fleshed out the tracks into, What?, the band’s debut.
It’s lo-fi and minimal and what you’d expect, but it’s also unhinged and raw in a way that doesn’t sound like files being swapped on email more like three people in a basement swapping aggression for exuberance and escaping the boredom of the afternoon. With short blasts of hummable melody presented in disarray, the feelings of friendship are embedded in the recordings even while the members are located in different parts of the country. The results are so immediate, transfixing, and like most enjoyable punk records, leaving you wanting more. You don’t have to take this review’s word, its only a little over six minutes long and you could’ve probably listened to it at least three times by the time you finish reading this.