As setbacks go, having all your gear, master tapes and even the studio you’ve been working in razed to the ground before you’ve had a chance to complete your recording is about as devastating as they come, and yet that’s what happened to French noise-rock trio Sofy Major when superstorm Sandy levelled Brooklyn’s Translator Audio Studio where they were working.
That Idolize even exists at all, then, is a triumph of the generosity of the Brooklyn indie music scene, and yet what is even more of a triumph is the album itself. Strafing across a terrain of pummelling noise is a demented melody that owes a clear debt to Unsane (notably Steve The Slow), while wielding the same sonic weight of Cave In and the raw, unhinged feel of The Jesus Lizard.
It’s the coalescing of these elements into the likes of standout tracks UMPPK Pt. 1 and Pt.2 melded with the sheer HOF-ish riff attack of the likes of Coffee Hammam that sets Sofy Major apart from their fuzzbox-reliant peers.
