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Reviews

Upright Forms — Blurred Wires
(Skin Graft GR158, 2024, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2024-10-26

Blurred Wires Cover art

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb saying that Upright Forms carries on a tradition of bands from Minneapolis that combined blistering punk energy with catchy melodies. Hüsker Dü is my template for this sound, and others include (with various levels of balance between the two poles) Semisonic, Soul Asylum, and The Replacements. The group was formed by Nick Sakes (vocals, guitar), Noah Paster (bass, vocals), and Shaun Westphal (drums); Sakes is a veteran of the Skin Graft label, having been in the bands Colossamite and Dazzling Killmen. Paster and Westphal have both been in other bands, but nothing I’m familiar with. Blurred Wires is full of great songs that abound with overdriven guitars, throbbing bass, and energetic drums, but all of that noise is in service to songs that have hummable vocal parts which are actually mixed high enough to be understood. Bob Mould’s post-Hüsker Dü band Sugar, which got a bit of attention back in the 90s, is a good reference. The intelligence of the songwriting is evidenced by the somewhat unpredictable arrangements, with riffs that take sideways turns to put accents on beats (or off-beats) you wouldn’t expect, as well as the harmonic sophistication of the chords. “Long Shadow” takes a diversion in the middle to give Paster some time for arpeggiated chords on the bass, and “Animositine” ups the jangle quotient and evokes The Replacements. Sakes has a knack for using guitar chords with dissonant notes that don’t sound wrong, and he also suddenly switches to playing single-note lines, letting the bass fill out the chords. I hesitate to call this “no-frills” rock music, because there’s so much variety in the songs in spite of the generally high energy level, but the absence of keyboards, overdubbed guitars, and instrumental diversions keeps things on track, and that’s not a loss in this case. Highly recommended for listeners who like the energy of punk rock but don’t want to sacrifice melody and intelligence.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Upright Forms

More info
http://uprightforms.bandcamp.com/album/blurred-wires

 

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