A three-piece from Cambridge (Sarah - drums, Gbenga - bass/vox, Joel - guitars/vox), Akira have been touring for a few years now. Still young and full of new ideas, their fuzzy and powerful offerings have been put to tape before. And here with a new EP for 2005, 'Insert. Repeat. Roll Over. Sleep.', we're given two delicious slices of fuzzy, dirty, bleak rock.
'The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance' starts this neat 2-track EP with fluxing digital effects and a pulsing drumbeat sail constantly below a drunken but persistent wail of guitars. When lead singer Joel's vocals kick in, with all their digital distortion, he is sounding like a determined Billy Corgan. An almost military beat in the background keeps time, giving rise to some less constant guitar effects. "It's just so complicated/It's all just so invigorating" sums up this band fairly well. I've been giving these tracks a few listens (indeed, on repeat for a good half hour) and they didn't get boring, I just seemed to delve deeper below the surface, lush as it is with decaying, amp shattering guitars.
With 'Soho was Always There for Me', the trio start proceedings with a fraught and worn out 'Go.', and a familiar constant beat bangs along below electronically distorted moanings. The vocals here sound more akin to Placebo's Brian Molko, and some kind of grim determination just trying to surface. It's a joy to hear this EP through headphones, the multi-layered effects really create a large atmosphere for a three-piece. The climax to this track, however, culminates with those wonderful guitars and effects getting turned up a notch and Joel's echoed and digitized screams in fear? Or in triumph...?
