REACHES “The Land Is Kind” (Crass Lips Records)

 

Maybe this extreme synthpop thing was actually the way to go after all. Justin Randel certainly knows his way around a hook, and these tunes are eminently hummable the longer they ping around your brainpan. They linger like sugar dust on the windowsill, like confectionary snowflakes hardening and sparkling and becoming overrun with insects if left out in the yard too long. The Land Is Kind occupies the post-punk territory blazed by Suicide and early Ministry and Pet Shop Boys. There’s even an acoustic guitar track! Surprisingly, the gist is simplification, of getting back to nature, of eschewing modern urban trappings for the better, the more serene. The grip of culture is a stranglehold. Turnips and the woods are the future.
 
https://crasslipsrecords.bandcamp.com/
 
Digi at https://webefriends.bandcamp.com/album/the-land-is-kind-2
 
--Ryan