Returning to the fold following their brash debut Canadian four-piece, Women, expand on their collective love for merging dissonant chords, opaque structures and the faintest strains of pop melodies on this follow up, Public Strain.
On the surface not much has changed in Women’s musical outlook, it’s not too hard to hear traces of c68-era of noise and sunshine pop fascination at the forefront, though this time out the quartet aren’t afraid to allow more space for their experimental leanings to reveal themselves, with the old two minute duration pop-constraints dumped.
Whilst not as staunchly lo-fi as their previous outing Public Strain still has an abrasive edge that wouldn’t sound out of place amongst some of Sonic Youth’s late 80’s outputs, look no further than ‘Locus Valley’ and ‘Untogether’.
But the four-piece are at their strongest whenever they unleash their more unashamed pop side with awkward and angular closing number ‘Eyesore’ the albums standout moment.
A fine, if somewhat restless, follow up for the Canadian group.
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