4 out of 5

Label: Expert Work Records

Produced by: Ian Dobyns

I see post-rock and post-hardcore tags – aren’t we okay calling it grunge?

Okay, okay: not everything that was heavy and “alt-rock” in the 90s was grunge, and obviously Helmet came out of the metal / hardcore / punk scene, so maybe those post- tags are most accurate, but “grunge” summons up such a strong association to the era for me that I think it’s an acceptable descriptor for Gift Horse – especially since I have to assume its members had or have a pretty strong CD and cassette collection from that time and style which provided some background inspiration from their debut ‘Absence.’

Formed from the remains of Southern rock outfit famines, and prior to that, scraped together from math-rocking instrumental act Coward, Gift Horse is not exactly those tags either, and instead hits heavy on the riffage and swagger that gave us groups on the fringes of the Nirvana era, populating Sub Pop or Touch and Go while they waited their turn for their one major label release. To dial in the vibe further, we get a creaky prologue with spoken text from the Twin Peaks book, which gives the reference a plus one in cool: you do a vocal sample from the show, okay, “cult” classic which everyone at least knows, but when you’re going to the 2016/2017 texts, that’s enhanced fandom.

From there on out, the four person act swings into action, with vocalist Mikey Wheeler giving weight to Wheeler’s + bassist Matt Cole’s lyrics, which are exactly evocative of the Midwest snarky malaise at which label Expert Work excels – and I don’t mean that as a slight: the words are crisp and effective, sung or shouted with vigor. Musically, I go back to my grunge comment: the start and finish of this album are strong, rallying between aforementioned Helmet-like bluster on some of the shorter tracks, and a solid, buzzing crunch that tickles at occasional math-rock changeups while mostly sticking to a momentum-driven pummel that, again, draws up dreams of Mudhoneys and Tads and so on.

At the midpoint, some of the edges wear down on the group’s sound: Mors and Masticator are back-to-back somewhat faceless tracks; they rock, just without necessarily any memorable hooks. But then we’re right back at it with the swampy The Lurid Traversal Of Route I-70, which kicks us back into high gear for the remainder of the disc.

Though I’ve defined much of this by comparison, I don’t actually draw out the grunge nod too often – it’s not the most common well of inspiration for bands nowadays, and given that that was my prime era of tunes, that makes me a good (perfect?) judge of what stands out and holds a true torch to that sound versus sounding like an also-rans. Gift Horse are most certainly the former.