Owls – Ancient Stars Seed
Cult Chicago post-hardcore oddballs come back gruffly. Hear it here!
OWLS, THE BAND featuring four-fifths of artfully recalcitrant, early-’90s Midwestern enigmas Cap'n Jazz, recorded their self-titled debut LP in 2001 and split soon after. Thirteen years on, the original line-up have recorded a new album, Two, which even echoes its predecessor’s collage’d sleeve art, and includes a haunting image of a stigmatic Noel Gallagher weeping blood. Ancient Star Seed is taken from Two, and presents a pleasingly oblique mix of neo-prog rhythmic shifts, nervy guitars straight from the anthill and oblique words, which seem to touch on primal creation on the micro and macro scales and challenged socio-economic circumstances (“We’ve never really even been friends with anyone with nice stuff,” it avers).
“The line ‘We've never had nice stuff’ feels good to sing because we really are still a grubby foursome with broken equipment and no money,” muses voice Tim Kinsella, who also works as a barman and counts a regrettable food website as a must-visit destination. “I see these shitty young bands every day with pedal boards and no ideas…” Two's out on March 25, and true to Kinsella's worldview, is available on cassette as well as the usual formats.
