Bambara's post-punk has always had a sleek sort of menace to it, a taut rhythm section wrapped in psychedelic noise. It's mesmerizing to listen to, and seeing the band live is an experience wrought from sharp curves and frontman Reid Bateh's rapturous baritone.
Bateh is calling the Brooklyn trio's forthcoming Shadow On Everything a "Western Gothic concept album," a series of vignettes about the people and places of a girl's western hometown set to a dark, twangy rumble. Produced by Andy Chugg (Pop. 1280, Pill), you can hear William Brookshire's every rattling bass throb, the air choked out of Blaze Bateh's aerobic drumming and the spacious and searing guitar work that embodies the loneliness of Alessandro Alessandroni and terror of The Birthday Party, all in this first single. "José Tries To Leave" is like a harsh flash of light against a leather silhouette, a document of the dissipating spots that dance on your eyelids as that strange body moves towards them.
Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
