Bronto Skylift - The White Crow (self-release)

Iain Stewart and Niall Strachan must have lived a quite repressed childhood to be able to unleash this cacophony of scattergun riffs and epileptic meltdowns, emotions buried down so deep that only a drum-kit and guitar are able to channel their eccentricities, but may we be thankful for this as their self produced debut record The White Crow is an energetic, ferocious listen.

Many tracks such as ‘Burt Bacharancid’ and ‘Danny Glover Isn’t Dead’ contain such spasmodic riffs that it is physically unable to sit still, a bit like wearing an itchy jumper that’s on fire. But they’re not just about the danceable side of rock as Niall’s screaming on ‘Wolf’ accompanied by the math-rock opening section add a depth and technical superior side to the band which is admired and feared in equal measures.

Like many acts which comprise a duo, the effort put into the performance of the songs is always greater, and you would be right to assume that their live shows are where Bronto Skylift really come into their own. Just admiring a track like ‘Cobblepot’ with its array or time signature changes, funky to frenetic riffs, gentle to aggressive vocals, all the while fitting together as a whole, nothing feeling forced into it just for the sake of it, and keeping your feet-a-tappin’, suggests that there may be no limits to where these Scots could go.

As ‘Transgenderbenderender’ brings an almost plainly sorrowful end to The White Crow, you have to really listen to the whole record again just to try and get a little bit closer to understanding just what the hell is going on, but then that is the best kind of record, not one that leaves you bored of stale, surrounded in modality or repetitiveness, but rather one that makes you go “I’ve got to hear that again!” And a bigger compliment couldn’t be paid to The White Crow.