It's almost too perfect that Negative Fun Records would have asked a band called Positive No for material for their singles series. I thought there might have been a direct connection to the label but the four piece from Richmond, VA are one of those familiar veteran band stories. Kenny Close and Tracy Wilson got together with no intention of doing anything with a few ideas they had kicking around and four years later they've released a 12" EP on Little Black Clouds Records and are in the process of a proper full length. Everyone here has been honing their skills in all sorts of projects and it shows.
A-Side's "Automatic Cars" opens with an ominous bass line and high two note response from a guitar poised to launch. The vocals from Tracy are all over the place in a punk Bjork emphasis on weird phrasing from timid whispers to breathy hoarse breakdowns in the same verse making for a real schizophrenic internal sound that matches this mathy Don Cab style instrumentation. The jittery strum bursts and or shifting time signatures are the external equivalent to this stream of emotional consciousness. It's punk and precise, recorded extremely clean drawing from post punk rhythms and then vocally pushing that formula over the edge. It takes extreme style to remain the centerpiece in the middle of these harsh equations and Tracy is pushing her delivery into it's own completely unique instrument.
B-Side's "Slumber Sequence" uses that bass again to set a concrete foundation with calculating guitars bursting with layers of jangle, interlocking melodies and high harmonies like The Swirlies. A cut up zine version with barrages of tom and cymbal fills between the dueling bass and guitar. They seem to have that same lean towards experimentation of pushing odd rhythms and smashing melodies together making the puzzle pieces fit. Like Dog Day or Love of Diagrams the melodies appear between complex phrases in these unexpected pop ways. I'm trying to sound as smart as this is. Duh, get it already.
Get the entire box set on sale from Negative Fun Records.
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