2 out of 5

Label: Un Je-Ne-Sais-Quoi

Produced by: Jérémie Morin (recorded and mixed by)

I like music like this conceptually – lo-fi, drone-ish rock – but The Cherry Bones only get so far with the idea, hitting on a core sound that is occasionally spiced up but otherwise doesn’t push in any real notable direction.

We have two guitar / keyboard dudes and a drum machine, billing themselves as (translated) “synthetic garage-surf,” which sounds awesome, but see my complaint above: the drum machine definitely adds the synthetic, and the reverbed recording and basic riffage is surely garage, and I’m guessing the “surf” being claimed there is for some of the patterns in the melodies, but the majority of this first EP tosses that pitch onto low heat and hardly gets it to simmer. One of the shorter, less-than-three-minute tunes, Hidden by the grave, gets some purchase just by dint of that runtime: the compression has the group leaning into more of a screamy Ramones punk styling that’s energizing; and closer Helmet kicks off with some ambience that leans into the minimalist, drone vibe, and ekes out some quality emotion… that the song ultimately can’t quite use, as we slip back into the more limited format the pervades the remainder of the EP.

In bitty bites, The Cherry Bones’ first EP has an old school, bruised Grifters flair to it, and its cast in enough fuzz that it qualifies as good background. But when you get flashes of the group doing something with just a dash more energy, it highlights what’s lacking in the majority of the tunes.