\\GT// – Beats Misplaced

Messiness in rock music can be a powerful emotive tool. Raw, loose playing can feel transgressive and exciting; an unadulterated transmission of energy. Alabama’s \\GT// nail the 'don’t give a fuck' posturing of messy rock but are missing a crucial sense of urgency. Scotty Lee owns his groggy monotone but never seems committed to his subject matter. Lines like “life is not always alright”, delivered in a limp deadpan, are knowingly facetious but they come off disinterested rather than droll.

On the title track, he blows a raspberry after cutting short a guitar solo as if to say 'so what?', candidly dismissing a chance to get adventurous. An unhinged guitar passage on Something’s Wrong With My Mind builds a tension that in the hands of someone like Cloud Nothing’s might erupt into a maelstrom angsty catharsis; here, it peters out, the chorus comes back and the song ends. Agreeably rough around the edges but lacking the vigour it takes to back that up.