You could twist yourself into knots coming up with suitable genres and sub-genres to fit Male Pattern Band but they hit the nail on the head themselves when they describe their noise as ‘junkyard pop’.
Jangly, overdriven guitars, catchy oddball tunes and an overall lo-fi aesthetic are the order of the day – the comparisons to Pavement are inevitable but that’s no bad thing, right?
Just topping one minute and with no vocals except for a paint-stripping scream right in the middle, first track, ‘Tilly’, is really just an intro to the EP.
Second track, ‘New Years’, is where we get started – the fuzzy bass line and breaking guitar sounds give it the Erskine trio’s signature but at heart it’s an exciting pop number that bounces along with a jaunty strut, complete with hand claps.
‘Twee’ is the highlight of the EP, it’s the story of “a night in the life of a Glasgow band” and really showcases the unique sound of Male Pattern Band.
A slow waltz with ringing, distorted chords backed with an almost country sounding riff step out of the way to bring Chris McCrory’s vocals to the fore.
Eventually bursting into the up-tempo chord bashing of the earlier tracks it goes out in a wail of feedback.
‘Catching Up’ steers us back into the territory of the first two songs, a catchy, upbeat pop song with hand claps and chorus effects on the guitars demonstrates the twee sound described in the track before – lyrically speaking, this is the best track on the album.
Closer, ‘Sunday Driver’, is another slower paced number with a bar rock feel to it, you can imagine hearing it in a saloon with the band playing behind a chicken wire fence a la Blues Brothers – a fat guitar riff, with an industrial sounding overdrive, breaks up the laid back verses nicely.
Overall a great follow up to the band’s first bedroom-recorded work, higher quality but retaining that original ‘junkyard’ sound.
The fast songs are a lot of fun but it’s when they slow it down on tracks ‘Twee’ and ‘Sunday Drive’ that you hear something special.
Words: Callum McSorley
