Spectreview: Black Ends – Stay Evil

-LIGHT CORAL-

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The formula to Black Ends’ self-described “gunk pop” – hook-filled, guitar-based, acerbic pop-rock  – is something that, distilled to its essence, we’ve seen attempted by countless bands ever since Kurt Cobain first caught himself playing on every television across the globe. Many of those countless bands, including the ones that ultimately profited heavily off of his formula, have faded into obscurity. Perhaps that’s because they never had someone like Nicolle Swims, an artist with both a unique viewpoint and the ability to successfully express that uniqueness. Listening to the band’s sophomore EP, following their excellent 2019 debut EP, it’s tempting to imagine how the post-grunge movement might have played out had artists like Swims continued that legacy instead of, say, Chad Kroeger or Scott Stapp, whose hyper-masculine musings and subsequent commercial successes obscured the fact that they took all the wrong lessons from Cobain’s punk breakthroughs.

Nirvana comparisons may be played out in 2020, but even so, Stay Evil (pointedly produced by Bleach engineer Jack Endino) argues for those connections in ways that feel genuinely exciting. It’s still an EP, which means it feels more like a taste of things to come than a definitive statement, but quality assuredly trumps quantity here. As on Sellout, every song is a winner, but they’re all also tighter and stranger than those on its predecessor. Endino’s oomph certainly helps, smartly placing Swims’ voice front and center and amplifying the natural dynamics of the trio’s combined playing. Not one of these tracks is content to stay in place, whether it’s the title track’s lurch into a blissfully-chaotic breakdown, “Live in the Sea’s” overwhelming percussion fireworks or “Low’s” a capella mic drop. The effect is a confident display of differing styles that continue to reinforce that signature Black Ends sound.

Swims remains at the crux of the band’s powers, in both their inimitable croak and their twangy, humid guitar tone. Wherever that voice comes from, it creates a character that doesn’t just inhabit these songs, but skulks around them like a spider playing with its food. Under Swims’ guardianship, “Stay Evil” transforms from what would be an simple, ultra-cool jam into a rallying cry against abusers; “Monday Mourning” becomes a surrealist, pop-forward waterfall of dread; “Live in the Sea,” meanwhile, sees Swims channeling the self-loathing that anchors “About A Girl” as deftly as it evokes that song’s Beatlesque feel. Theirs is the reason why the prospects of a full-length from the band are too much to bear.

Recommended for nautical adventures.