Pity Sex Aim To Fully Satisfy Fans
Published
2015 is a good year for UK-based fans of Michigan noise-pop band, Pity Sex, as if marks their first UK tour and the exclusive re-release of their 2013 debut album, Feast of Love, via Run for Cover. The re-release features two new songs that will undoubtedly satisfy fans whilst the band records their second album.
Coming in at 36 minutes on the re-release, 'Feast of Love' is almost self-explanatory. The album opens with "Wind Up" that, because of its fast-paced energetic nature, conveys the dizziness of Brennan Greaves’s “my head won’t stop turning”. The band follow suit thematically with "Keep", as Britty Drake takes her turn at leading vocals on a much slower and more melodic track, complimented with fuzz.
Both "Drown Me Out" and "Smoke Screen" retain this melodic fuzz, with Drake and Greaves taking turn at directing vocals. "Hollow Body", at just under two minutes, comes almost half way through the re-release, and takes a different direction as Drake sings “once I laid my head on you, inhaled to match your rhythm” in a melancholic tone.
Besides from its lyrics, "Sedated" lifts the mood of the album, leading into the album’s emotional high point. "Honey Pot" has a real punch. "Drawstring" is the album’s shortest track at only 1:28 yet, retaining the kick of "Honey Pot". It’s catchy – in spite of Drake’s somehow dreamy description of a noose around one’s neck.
Whilst "St John’s Wort" encapsulates the almost but not quite angsty nature of Feast of Love, and it is a great song, it seems out of place between "Drawstring" and the, quite frankly, heart-wrenching "Fold". Though, given the almost conversational nature of vocals, and mood, that makes up Feast of Love, the abrupt fuzziness of "St John’s Wort" works.
"Fold" was, in 'Feast of Love’s' original release, an absolute treasure to end with but the addition of "Acid Reflux", taken from Pity Sex’s split with Adventure, and "Euclid", are worthwhile in their own right. Whilst "Acid Reflux" has the chemical energy that its name suggest, "Euclid" brings the re-release back to the feast of love that it is, and combines the album’s best elements. It’s heavy on the fuzz that illuminates much of Feast of Love and the balance between Drake and Greaves’ vocals draw the album to a neat close.
As part of their UK tour, Pity Sex play a short but sweet set at Gold Sounds festival at Leeds University Union on 25 May. Pity Sex power through "Wind Up", "Coca Cola", from their 2012 EP Dark World, and "Drawstring". The emotion that saturates listening to Pity Sex alone, is overtaken by the surprising speed and energy with which they play, as the audience engages enthusiastically. "Honey Pot" is as satisfying live as would be expected and "Keep’" demonstrates a faultless balance between Drake’s vocals and the emo-fuzz sound that is Pity Sex.
"Acid Reflux" is a truly welcomed as the audience, in the small room that Pity Sex play, really get into the set. "Sedated" and "Drown Me Out" are in no way disappointing, but it is the closing song, "Dogwalk", also from Dark World, which really makes the show. As the audience dances along, it is nice to see Pity Sex close with one of their older songs.
From playing their older tracks "Coca Cola" and "Dogwalk" to featuring of "Acid Reflux" and "Euclid" on their re-release, Pity Sex have made clear developments as a band. Though, as their performance in Leeds demonstrated, their older material is no less treasurable.
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Words by Ellie Brown
