3 out of 5

Label: Comedy Minus One

Produced by: ?

Out’s blend of working-man, GBV-esque rock with some punky enthusiasm shows off the two sides of their particular coin on this 7″, with opener Precision Surgeon a winner of riffage and vocal delivery, every part of the track a hook that builds on the one before. It’s sing-alongable; it’s an ear worm. Followup Dirteye, however, is a bit more indirect, which taps into what happened on a lot of Swim Buddies, where the energy is intact (and the group definitely sounds good), but a connection with the track is wanting – the emotions feel kind of hollow.

Stomatopod are a good aural pairing for Out, but unfortunately haven’t really crossed the line into being notable on their own terms. The whole package ends up sounding like some of the bands scooped up in the indie / grunge scene of the 90s, when labels were just searching for anything with a general sound, though think more Pavement than Nirvana. And yes, if you have an affinity for that era, this is by no means a bad thing – Stomatopod do it well – but they are rather indicative of that “general sound,” down to the vocal delivery and the way the recording sounds.