by Louis Pelingen (@Ruke256)
There is something lovely about how bands use noise soundscapes in current times, where they are willing to treat it with care, imperfections and all. Recent acts like Feeble Little Horse and Julie take this presentation to heart, accompanying those fuzzy textures with shaggy and shuffling tones, allowing the noise to feel less overwhelming and more comfortable. One newer example of bands under this is forty winks, a quartet composed of Conner McGee (guitar, vocals), Cillia Catello (bass, vocals), Kyuhwan Hwang (guitar, production), and Colin Klink (drums).
With their debut EP Love Is a Dog from Hell, the band explores alternative rock that splashes across certain characteristics: mathy compositions, shaggy noise production, and solemn vocal deliveries held together with unsure love narratives that still carry immense yearning. All the songs are structured with brief runtimes, but the band allows such melodies to combust and slither at any cost, providing enough melodic and vocal flavor across the EP.
Forty winks manifests this variance through cuts like “liadh” and “noise,” the former cut being immense in its guitar rumbles as Cillia Catello’s vocals coo with an exhausting yearning. The latter cut’s grooves may stomp and charge, but there is a stability that holds it altogether, allowing the song to simultaneously sound jagged and composed.
On the flip side, “commie bf” and “Spurs” offer more jumpy melodies that zooms with energy. “Commie bf” has its guitar and bass riffs just roar and sliver as Catello’s vocal delivery adds more spark to keep up with the faster rhythm. Conner McGee’s voice takes center stage on “Spurs,” where his numbed singing is contrasted with barking shouts. Surrounding himself with the pummeling melodies that only get heavier on the back half, with the riffs and drums bulldozing through with distorted feedback.
Constantly bruising and frizzy, Love Is a Dog from Hell promises more of what forty winks can provide further within the exploration of contemporary rock that embraces noise wholeheartedly, drifting it to newly exciting directions. There’s enough balance within shambling melodies and fuzzy tones that complement the unsure love narratives that it describes. Love Is a Dog barks loudly, but will still look for that love all the same.