Bugs in the Dark – Just in Time for Halloween

by delarue

Brooklyn band Bugs in the Dark have a deliciously assaultive new record, Hang It on the Wall, just out. They’re doing the album release show on November 6 at the Mercury. If this is any indication, it should be killer. The band lineup is two guitars, vocals and drums – no bass. The first track, Serpents and Wine begins with some ominous feedback over a tense, quiet beat before frontwoman/guitarist Karen Rockower comes in lurid and suspenseful. With its eerie chromatic chords and unleashed vocals, it comes off like the bastard child of Siouxsie Sioux, peak-era Throwing Muses and late-period Sleater-Kinney. It ends cold, as if the tape ran out while the feedback-infested drone of the guitars was still smoldering. The second track, Picture kicks off with a big hook much like the title track from Daydream Nation and shifts from juicy clang to blistering fuzz as it builds to the chorus. A simple snapshot has never been so menacing.

Metal Bird, the third cut, is slower and more hypnotic but does a slow burn until it’s just as loud, with slithery echoes and big reverb-toned staccato punches. There’s also a remix of the first track that doesn’t sound much like it. Blast this thing on the L train somewhere between Montrose and Morgan Ave. and completely forget what you’re going through.