by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
It’s been less than five months since Green/Blue released their excellent sophomore album, Offering, but the Minneapolis based band are back with a new record, their second of the year. Paper Thin, the latest from the quartet led by Jim Blaha (Blind Shake, Shadow In The Cracks, Jim & the French Vanilla) and Annie Sparrows (Awesome Snakes), is due out June 10th via Feel It Records (Spread Joy, Crime of Passing, Star Party), picking up where Offering left off, with a rhythmic heavy surge of basement post-punk. The band mix cold melodic senses and dampened minimalism with raw energy, with a force that recalls Wipers and a heavy reverberation in line with The Jesus and Mary Chain. There’s a constant momentum, a frenzied tornado that seemingly whips around everything Blaha does.
“In Lies” is the record’s first single and the album opener, a propulsive song that opens with a smattering of low end boogie and stays firmly in place. There’s a big swagger to it that instantly reminds me of Swami John Reis, keeping it locked but fluid, hard charging and full of grit. Sparrows and Blaha add tight harmonies, lifting the song from it’s directional pull and adding in thick hooks and a sort of noise pop etherealness. While the band’s precision often engages in a colder lurk amongst the shadows, “In Lies” feels lifted beyond the clouds. At two and a half minutes it feels short, but maybe only in the sense that you want more, the way an album opener should do.