Kill for Company - Bag of Doubts EP

by Adrian Janes

published: 7 / 5 / 2014

Label: Longevity Records
Format: CDS

Melodic and versatile third EP from experimental Mancurian duo, Kill for Company

Review

Belying its title, ‘Bag of Doubts’ kicks off this 5-track CD with an assured blend of squalling guitar, clattering drums and garage band-type organ. Interspersed with unleashed flashes of guitar and drums, it’s a largely slow song which yet slides along with restrained strength. The immediate contrast provided by ‘Thoughts Loaded Like Bullets’ confirms the impression of a band with depth. Michael Banfield’s guitar - actually a customised ‘guibass’, to be precise - displays a more melodic, though still forceful, approach while the track moves more briskly than its predecessor. Perhaps inspired in part by being a duo, they are not afraid to leave atmospheric spaces in which just Mark O’Donoghue’s drums and Banfield’s sardonic Mancunian vocals remain. Certainly the potential limitations of being a two-piece are largely overcome in the course of the EP by Banfield and O’Donoghue’s ability and imagination, with the guitarist variously strident (e.g. the title track), delicate and slightly melancholic (‘1,000,000’), and almost progrock (‘Manners’), while the drummer adeptly employs various rhythms that range through straight-ahead rock, disco and the slightly jazzy. Final song ‘Show’ has an especially strong tune, even amongst the clutch of good ones here. It is a shift into another mood, at once sadder than the other songs yet with what seems to be a bitter, accusatory vocal : “There’s no excuse now you’ve understood”. The muted guitar is counterposed with waves of keyboard, hinting at Manchester forebears The Passage, that leads up to a climax of wildly distorted guitar and drums. 'Bag of Doubts’ is Kill for Company’s third EP, the previous ones having already been well-received. Musically skilful, melodically brimful, it’s only the absence of an obvious blues influence that makes the label of a potential Mancunian Black Keys doubtful.