Grip-Like Vice - PLACE//CIRCUMSTANCE 
(Burning Shed)
Release Date: Out Now
Cornish musical wizard Beren Matthews is the man at the centre of Grip-Like Vice and 'PLACE//CIRCUMSTANCE' is the new album from that particular corner of creativity. The party gets started with the urgent beat of 'Feign Martyr' underpinned by a pulsating bass line and the angular guitars that make this sound like Young Knives meets Maximo Park kind of track and one of the best album openers I've heard in a long while. 'Alphabet' drops the pace a fair bit for an organ and vocal combination that has a late 60s atmosphere before exploding for a louder, more 90s influenced chorus.
There's a hint of Snow Patrol to the opening of 'House Is...' but the build in to the chorus is worth the wait before 'But It's Not Christmas' get things jumping again with those swaggering, dark guitars sounds, for all the world, like an English Queens of the Stone Age with indie-pop vocals. 'Get Inside, Go Nowhere' is the frantic and angular track that blends the heft of Shihad with the urgency of the Futureheads while 'Later Is Now' harks back to the Automatic but without that annoying shouty guy on backing vocals. The album proper finishes up on the lo-fi moodiness of 'Past' which combines a killer rhythm section with some unfettered keyboards that make for intense listening.
There are then three bonus tracks starting on 'With The Band (Redux)' which is honest a song as you'll hear about the trial and tribulations of being in a band when everyone around you is settling down and living the comatose dream. '15:30 Beer' is a simple guitar and vocal strum along for the end of the night and the real last track comes in the form of 'Invested', a swaying slow dance of a song to be played while the barkeep is closing up. Matthews is clearly a talent and a prodigious one at that so you could do a lot worse than taking some time out to swim around in these songs.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/griplikevice
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