by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
While so many modern post-punk bands are looking to play as tight as humanly possible, Leipzig’s Onyon seem to be content to play loose and raw. The quartet made a big impression with last year’s self-titled debut, catching the attention of Trouble In Mind Records (Melenas, Sunwatchers, The Serfs) who later reissued the tape. The band’s sound is synth punk with a minimalist bent, distant recordings, and an outpouring of passion in the way it’s played, full of tension that comes via willingly sloppy carnage. It’s the sound of a band playing dangerously slack with what are otherwise tight structures, and it’s all the more appealing for it. The band are set to release Last Days On Earth on October 13th, their first “proper” album, a whirring and mangled blast of post-punk grooves and clamoring howls.
Having shared the garage punk influenced “Alien Alien” and jangly swoon of “Egg Machine,” Onyon offer another glimpse into Last Days On Earth with “Goldie,” a song that opens with synth organs and a needling guitar riff that seems locked into it’s swarming pattern. The whole thing sort of comes unglued from the rhythm’s backbone, the tempo shifting as the swirl of the synths becomes ever more incessant. Playing out like a vivid nightmare, melodies are warped (and possibility slightly out of tune), but it’s in that end times sort of upheaval that Onyon really shine, playing without a care, the punch rhythm and rawness it’s shining essence.