Wednesday 3 February 2010

Loverman - Human Nurture


Every once in a while an EP comes along that you just can't get off repeat play, 'Human Nurture' is however as far removed from one of these as you can possibly get.


Loverman promises "a small but perfectly formed clutch of songs, steeped in ominous noise and macabre imagery and a tenderness of the sort you get in half healed flesh wounds." Well I do feel like I have been shot, in the leg, twice; listening to it is physically painful. Perfectly formed translates to breathtakingly horrendous, it sounds like some angst ridden teens taking out their frustrations on some instruments they haven't figured out how to play yet. Everything sounds clumsy and disengaged and any sense of melody or beat seems like an afterthought.


It most closely fits into a hard rock genre and is possibly what System of a Down would sound like if you removed their talent. The problem is they are trying too hard to be shocking, without being intelligent or witty. Starting with 'Crypt Tonight' which includes the line "I'm a sex offender / I'm your children's teacher," which says it all really. The bass and drums aren't bad; they aren't great either but they're probably the best things about the EP.


It's hard to pinpoint what is the worst thing about this EP; the lead singer alternates between screeching and sinister. In the latter moments it doesn't sound too bad and a Nick Cave reference wouldn't be wholly out of place.


Ok, so I'm being quite harsh, 'Barbs' isn't too bad a track, the vocals are smoky, smooth and have lost the stifling quality that scars the other tracks. Its downbeat and shows musicality which is absent in the rest of the EP and portrays emotion as the lyrics aren't distorted by screams.

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