Parts & Labor – Constant Future

Labelling Brooklyn’s Parts & Labor an “experimental noise-rock band” is one more reason to take user-edited encyclopaedias with a pinch of salt. The band experiment, sure – for proof, recall their perverse decision to follow hook-filled breakthrough Mapmaker with the fifty-one song oddity Escapers Two: Grind-Pop.

And, yes, they’re unquestionably noisy on occasion, with Bright White (amongst others) culminating in a raucous din. But such a description ignores their unabashed pop side, with Constant Future echoing less challenging sources than the above wiki-description implies: there’s a Celtic-folk feel to Hurricane; Rest is a close cousin of REM’s IRS years; while Pure Annihilation nicks a sizable chunk of its melody from king-of-kings praising hymn Give Me Joy in My Heart.

Admittedly, it’s folk played through feedback, REM tailed with a buzzing coda, and a hymn with enough distortion to make a vicar’s collar curl, but their commitment to tunes over abrasion is unwavering. “I used to be a hurricane, but now I’m just a breeze,” Dan Friel sings on the penultimate track, before drums stomp in strong. Don’t believe his lies: on this form, they’re powerful enough to raze cities – yet leave the survivors whistling along. [Chris Buckle]