NO LIFE by CIVIL ELEGIES

The first new release from Glasgow-based noise rock trio CIVIL ELEGIES in almost eight years, NO LIFE picks up right where the band left off sonically—the ever-menacing, pulverising cacophony of Hamish Black and Kyalo Searle-Mbullu's dual guitars given form courtesy of Grant Donaldson's frenzied, lacerating grooves. That said, across the four tracks that constitute the EP, the band experiments with electronics, tonality and song structures to create a much more immediate, urgent listening experience than prior releases—laying somewhere in between Godflesh, Melvins, KEN Mode, Swans, Shellac and Lungfish.

This is a sentiment mirrored by the lyrical themes of the EP, which one might view as a full-throated embrace of the absurd—desperately clinging onto every shred of beauty, humour and joy to be found in a brutally artless world, and serving as a furious rebuke of those wilfully contributing to its decline. That is to say, a life without the joy, the humanity of art and imperfection, is arguably no life at all.

Indeed, not long since the band celebrated its tenth anniversary, CIVIL ELEGIES exists as a unit that is tighter, more honed and clearer in purpose than ever—only growing in the kind of drive and sonic power that has seen them described as "something of a secret institution" (Echoes and Dust).

More to come.

Glasgow-based noise rock trio formed early 2014.

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