Wherein Brooklyn ‘duo’ White Hills wilfully pitch themselves yet deeper into the heart of darkness. Obviously, there’s always been a side order of sinister served alongside everything from them thar Hills, but whereas 2015’s Walks For Motorists boasted a Krispy Kreme production job from David Wrench, Stop Mute Defeat sees a prevailing MO muddied ever more avant-gardewards by a band in obvious thrall to NYC art rock tradition.
And we use the word muddied advisedly here, as guitaring vocalist Dave W and vocalising bassist Ego Sensation have recruited ex-Sonic Youth/Eno producer Martin Bisi to bring a little of the no-wave dissonance of TriBeCa’s late, lamented Mudd Club to the mix. The Burroughs-esque cut-up audio of the rhythm loops only serves to accentuate the underlying harshness of a double-barrelled vocal assault that persistently nags into the psyche; there’s vintage Cabs here, a fetid whiff of TG. All regular means of melodious seduction are set aside in favour of the sound of disturbance, as an industrial edge renders White Hills singular psychedelia monochrome, monotone, monolithic. Speaking paradoxically, an assured step deeper underground that only ever sounds like a step upward.
