Premiere: Alarmist race through genre and time on new single ‘Expert Hygiene’
Dublin trio Alarmist have been busy bees as of late.
The experimental instrumental group are prepping for the release of their second LP Sequesterer, which is due out on July 19th via Small Pond.
Today, we’re premiering their new single ‘Expert Hygiene’ on the site.
We’ve been following the band for some time now, with their first EP featuring on the site back in 2013. The band are hard to define, check out ‘Expert Hygiene’ and you’ll hear what I mean. Broadly, the trio blends aspects of post-punk and math-rock.
On ‘Expert Hygiene’ particularly I get the sense the group are leaning toward the electronic side of glitch-hop – there’s a Thundercat phrasing to the bass line and the disjointed arrangement isn’t too dissimilar to what you might find on Fly-Lo’s Cosmogramma.
It’s a wild dance, leading you by the hand through genre and musical era. At points, the synths are dominant – only for the track to fall back upon scatty guitar lines and head back toward a more traditional math-rock sound.
If the song bears a common thread throughout its four and a half minute run time it’s the superb drum work. The opening arrangement hears a heavily accented 16th note hit-hat pattern hold the tune down, while later sections take that notion and stunt it – replacing the business of the opening with deliberately obtuse one-shots. It’s the glue that holds the rest of the song together compositionally – fantastic work.
Sequesterer is out on July 19th via Small Pond.
