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6 out of 10
A strange little package coming from the desolate wilds of Norfolk, this CD raises a smile at the outset with its microchip-centipede stuck to the front cover. Musically, things get off to a grin, too, as The Blue Screen of Death begins with an IT Crowd sample, proceeds to a Speak & Spell glitch-out over a doomy electro bassline, before ending with that YouTube video soundtrack of a chap getting increasingly irate with his Microsoft Office 'Clippy' ('It looks like you're writing a letter. . . '). Things then end properly with a bit of gentle acoustic guitar over which an Ian Broudie sound-alike croons 'Who'll buy my pretty ringtones, now?' Well, quite. The music's nowhere near tinny and shitty enough to make a decent ringtone for the bruvvas on the back seats.
Where to go from here? Well, into a slightly mangled bit of Jackie Leven-ish punk, of course, which could do with being three or four minutes shorter. Born At Full Power is four seconds shy of eight minutes and doesn't really go anywhere. Neither, despite its title, does Mr. Ahmadinejad's Nuclear Powered Tie-Rack. There's the classic ringing indie guitar tones over a thumping rhythm, then some oddly stilted keys come in. . . and. . . that's it, really. Thankfully, the best is most definitely left until last, as A Torch Is A Case For Holding Dead Batteries melds the best of Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, Syd Barrett and some Simon Armitage-like poetry to pretty devastating effect and complements the opening track perfectly. If the 'Guns are trying to decide on a direction with this EP, I would advise going with how it begins and ends. The middle way sounds a bit aimless.
Listen: www.myspace.com/distantguns
Tracklist:
1. The Blue Screen of Death
2. Born At Full Power
3. Mr. Ahmadinejad's Nuclear Powered Tie-Rack
4. A Torch Is A Case For Holding Dead Batteries
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