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8 out of 10
OK, let's do a quick run through here - A Transatlantic band named after a 19th century composer, based around a husband-wife duo and whose members have worked with Girls Vs Boys & Soulside, releasing an album recorded by Steve Albini, on Temporary Residence Ltd (who current roster also includes Envy, Explosions In The Sky, Mono, Pinback and Young Widows), and which is only available as a combined CD & vinyl package. Yeah, I doubt this is going to be challenging Scouting For Girls' chart position any time soon.
But then why would we (or indeed they) want it to? Instead of variations on one irritating tune yammered out from behind shit-eating grins (sorry, I seem to be working through some issues), we have engaging, intriguing songs, with half-spoken, half-sung vocals, and nary an earworm chorus to be found. Steve Albini has recorded a plethora of artists (that I won't bother listing here), but I think this is the first I've heard in recent memory that sounds so much like what he does in his spare time (Shellac, Big Black, etc). Bellini don't exactly go for big crowd pleasers - the song structures are hardly simple, driven along by frenetic, arrhythmic riffs, and Giovanna Cacciola's vocals veer between quiet, sweet melodies and a more pained howl. You won't exactly start singing along with your fists in the air, but there's always something there that will get under your skin and make you tap along whenever you finally get a handle on the rhythm.
Imagine PJ Harvey doing a spoken word performance, accompanied by the Jesus Lizard. Actually, that should be all the incentive you need.
Listen: www.myspace.com/bellini
Tracklist:
1. Wake Up Under A Truck
2. Numbers
3. Daughter Leaving
4. Susie
5. Tiger's Milk
6. The Man Who Lost His Wings
7. Save The Greyhounds
8. The Thin Line
9. The Painter
10. A Deep Wound
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