RUBBING- ‘Vocal Harmony Trio’
This is a wiry, wily affair. This is four tracks in ten minutes of stark, sticky-floor punk rock’n’roll. I’m listening intently to the fuzzed-up bass and buzzsaw riffing of opener ‘Waiting for Another One’, sure, but I’m also balling my fists just in case the song comes bursting out of my speakers looking for a fight. ‘Vocal Harmony Trio’ isn’t all adrenaline and decibels though. Rubbing, made up of erstwhile members of Kong and USA Nails, know that constant tension only leads to headaches, and alongside the more breathless stuff here is some grungy garage rock, sinewy shred, and passages of almost spoken word. My favourite track, ‘Fatigue Fatigue’, somehow finds a way to combine all of these things and just about make sense. Still, it’s hard to shake the feeling that these songs exist to be played live and in your face. Right up in your face. Fighting talk. Here they feel slightly stilted, trapped in amber, far away.
