The band: These New Puritans Key release: Beat Pyramid Hometown: Southend, UK Britain's These New Puritans had its first taste of the U.S. in March at the South By Southwest music festival, the cacophonous meat market where 2,000 bands try to stand out from each other. Distinguishing the group wasn't difficult, though: First, frontman and guitarist-vocalist Jack Barnett performed in a chain-mail shirt, which he wears "for protection." (Keyboardist Sophie Sleigh-Johnson dressed like she just came from a job interview.) Second, of the myriad influences heard during Sxsw, the likes of The Fall, PiL, and Big Black weren't terribly common. But listening to These New Puritans' heavily rhythmic, melodically sparse post-punk—full of fractured beats and melodies, and repetitious vocal fragments—the association was undeniable. The group's music, like Barnett's chain-mail outfit, is oblique by design. Beat Pyramid contains thoughtful examinations of numerology, esoteric literary references, and...
- 4/18/2008
- by Kyle Ryan
- avclub.com
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