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Impressive debut from this band that is equal parts members of Béton Armé and Puffer.
Hard to place stylistically, these songs are extremely refreshing and catchy. File somewhere between your Oi! and Post Punk cassettes. Mandatory!
Our take: This demo tape from Spleen is another of Roach Leg Records’ dispatches from the fertile Montreal punk scene that also includes Puffer and Béton Armé. In fact, Spleen includes members of both bands and shares some of their songwriting and recording sensibilities too. Their sound is a little different than those bands, though, with less of a grounding in an established style or genre and more of their own thing going on. While the rhythm section bashes and crashes in your typical punk/oi! fashion, the guitars here are just out of control, weaving through the sound with intricate melodies. Spleen’s guitarist reminds me of Johnny Marr with their quick arpeggio runs that are dense but always with a clear melody. If you can imagine Marr ripping it up with a gnarly oi! group like Red Alert or the 4 Skins you might be close to Spleen’s sound, but it’s something you need to hear to understand. They change up the m.o. on the closing track, “Sans Espoir,” the guitarist laying comparatively low and giving this track a punchy, early Kinks-like vibe. It’s tough enough to come up with a sound this fresh, but to pull it off as successfully as Spleen does here is something special.
Hard to place stylistically, these songs are extremely refreshing and catchy. File somewhere between your Oi! and Post Punk cassettes. Mandatory!
Our take: This demo tape from Spleen is another of Roach Leg Records’ dispatches from the fertile Montreal punk scene that also includes Puffer and Béton Armé. In fact, Spleen includes members of both bands and shares some of their songwriting and recording sensibilities too. Their sound is a little different than those bands, though, with less of a grounding in an established style or genre and more of their own thing going on. While the rhythm section bashes and crashes in your typical punk/oi! fashion, the guitars here are just out of control, weaving through the sound with intricate melodies. Spleen’s guitarist reminds me of Johnny Marr with their quick arpeggio runs that are dense but always with a clear melody. If you can imagine Marr ripping it up with a gnarly oi! group like Red Alert or the 4 Skins you might be close to Spleen’s sound, but it’s something you need to hear to understand. They change up the m.o. on the closing track, “Sans Espoir,” the guitarist laying comparatively low and giving this track a punchy, early Kinks-like vibe. It’s tough enough to come up with a sound this fresh, but to pull it off as successfully as Spleen does here is something special.