by Katie Hanford
Hailing from the dreary Pacific Northwest, Weed’s brand of hard-hitting, spaced-out jams are as catchy as they are dark. Like their grunge predecessors, Weed have mastered that perfect blend of pop sensibility and a punk-influenced core to bring us harsh indie-rock perfection. What sets them apart from the rest of this saturated genre lies in the execution of the massive amounts of noise emanating from their half-stacks. Taking influential cues from shoegaze masterminds like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, these gazers have flipped the “wall of sound” on its head, producing cacophonous distortion in more of a punk sense than a pretty one. Combined with a nuanced yet driving beat that harkens back to emo rockers like Sunny Day Real Estate, Weed manages to weave their guitar hooks in and out of the rhythm, creating a playful dialogue that ebbs and flows with the energy of the music.
If this is the standard Weed has created over their eight years as a band, Born Wrong Love solidifies their sound into a cohesive and mature way of being. Both harder and prettier than their previous installments, BWL provides us with a broad range of what Weed can accomplish within their specific brand of shoegaze-punk. “Favourite Hate,” the album’s first single, features a relatively simple three-chord progression drenched in reverb and distortion. The hook lies in the syncopated rhythm of the chorus, in which all instruments align to create a powerful beat that satisfies the ears and the soul. If Weed were a religion, I’d be a convert. It is with a heavy heart that I say they are slated to break up in the near future. At least they’ve made sure to go out with a bang.