Kasms - Absent Without Leave/Murmur

Since releasing debut album Spayed earlier this year, London quartet Kasms have gained a reputation for erratic and often unpredictably violent live shows. That sense of danger envelops both tracks on this double A-side brilliantly. Absent Without Leave springs to life with immediate similarity to the burgeoning collection of latter-day female-fronted punk groups, but as it pounds through its three short minutes, a dark energy all of it's own unfolds, boosted by a suitably raw production and topped with bitterweet harmonies. Murmur, on the other hand, sounds like a more terrifying Franz Ferdinand building up and breaking all the way back down again, combining heavy dance grooves with sheer anguish to thrilling effect.