![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/poet_radio_horseflesh.jpg\")
On the band\u2019s website, Asheville-based Poet Radio describes itself as \u201ca dark psych rock band with occultist undertones.\u201d New listeners shouldn\u2019t be warned off by that description; the trio\u2019s new Horseflesh<\/i> EP starts off accessibly enough and gets more even listenable as it goes along.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Clean\u201d begins abruptly, almost as if the band had been playing and the recording engineer hit the \u201crecord\u201d button a split second too late. The result is that it takes a few seconds for the listener to settle into the slinky and sinister \u2013 yet somehow alluring \u2013 vibe of the song. Madison Maxwell\u2019s vocal approach seems to exist halfway between kittenish and menacing, giving the song just the right uneasy feel. As the tune unwinds, the hypnotic melody \u2013 propelled forward by Kevin Freeman\u2019s heavy bass line \u2013 supports Maxwell\u2019s vocal. Metallic electric piano notes notes effectively scrape the polish off of the song. And every now and then, when Maxwell vocalizes a note that\u2019s outside the core cluster of notes, she adds a raspy, almost screaming texture. But almost as soon as it starts, it stops, with the singer returning to the primary vocal melody. Against the backdrop of how the song started, it\u2019s fitting that the edit cuts abruptly as the final bass note is still resonating. The next effect of this admittedly curious editing technique is to give the feeling that the recording of \u201cI\u2019m Clean\u201d is merely a snapshot, a capture in time, of Poet Radio\u2019s complete performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo Turning Back\u201d launches with the rhythm section \u2013 Freeman and drummer Ryan Cole \u2013 laying down a foundation redolent of Gang of Four\u2019s punk-funk-dance approach. Some stinging guitar leads from Maxwell puncture the funkiness and add a fuzzy texture of the sort one might find on 1980s psychedelic revival records by Rain Parade or Plasticland. Maxwell adopts a louder, more strident and forceful vocal demeanor here. And she sings the line \u201cthere\u2019s no turning back,\u201d the entire trio lurches forward, increasing the tempo and intensity. Maxwell leans into a wonderfully nasty (if intentionally rudimentary) guitar solo while the rhythm section vamps on a two-chord figure.<\/p>\n
In the context of the two songs that precede it, \u201cCrepe Paper Hearts\u201d is positively poppy. Maxwell switches between a distorted and clean tone on her guitar, and sings in a soaring manner that occasionally recalls Blondie\u2019s Deborah Harry. The song\u2019s arrangement features clipped chords and restrained tension on the part of Freeman and Cole; the band loosens up for the choruses, adding pleasing contrast to what threatens to be the most accessible of the Horseflesh<\/i> EP\u2019s songs. The song\u2019s outro features Maxwell\u2019s overdubbed guitar solo; what may or may not be a mistake in the solo is nonetheless charming in its offhandedness.<\/p>\n
In fact it\u2019s \u201cEnd of the Season,\u201d the closing track on the EP, that best earns the title of Horseflesh<\/i>\u2019s most winning tune. It\u2019s a curious strategy to sequence an EP in this way; perhaps the group\u2019s thinking is to reward listeners who stick around by making each song better than the one before it. \u201cEnd of the Season\u201d features the strongest melodic line of the four songs, and Maxwell\u2019s tinkling electric piano provides a nice contrast with the song\u2019s other relatively fuzzy sonic elements; a solo toward the song\u2019s end suggests the influence of Ray Manzarek. Again, Freeman\u2019s propulsive bass subtly provides power to the arrangement. At the conclusion of the tune, the band stops on a dime, underscoring the trio\u2019s single-minded and unspoken communication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the band\u2019s website, Asheville-based Poet Radio describes itself as \u201ca dark psych rock band with occultist undertones.\u201d New listeners shouldn\u2019t be warned off by that description; the trio\u2019s new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,49,57,62,65],"tags":[237,3544],"class_list":["post-15070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie","category-new-release","category-psych","category-rawk","category-review","tag-asheville","tag-poet-radio","cat-39-id","cat-49-id","cat-57-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15070"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15072,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15070\/revisions\/15072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}