Skeever and Cosmoline give us a bright, carefree EP in both digital and physical releases with “Contraband”, a collection of two tracks from Skeever and two tracks from Cosmoline. Both bands hail from Australia, producing upbeat punches of nostalgia brought to us by the punk staples: Electric guitar, bass, and drum kit. Skeever’s first contribution, “Mild-Red”, strikes me as reminiscent of many a day spent during summer vacation in school, coming home to put the only album I was able to afford in my childhood, “Hey There Delilah”, in a hand-me-down portable CD player to jam while playing whatever game caught my eye that humid evening. It makes me wish the artists had included written lyrics on their tracks, if only for me to fully understand the truth of their message. (I have auditory processing disorder, so while I may catch a line or two, I prefer to read while I listen so I can truly understand.) The vibes, however? I must confess: Immaculate. The song’s title appears to be a double entendre, able to be read as either “Mild Red”, which appears to be the name of a primarily (and, in my opinion, ironically) monochromatic New Zealand luxury fashion label, or “Mildred”, a woman’s name. The initial half of “Mild-Red” balances its musical tension with vivacious and lively major lifts, retaining the listener’s interest and maintaining that invincible feeling of euphoria. Only when it fades and we move to the breakdown do we come down from that high, shifting into a new chord progression as the tempo slows, the sound becoming more melancholic and even erratic at times before finally distilling to one final, crawling, gain-heavy guitar riff. While I still admit my blindness without this song’s lyrics to refer back to, I can still manage to hear something of a message in this sound: All good times must eventually come to an end, whether or not one is prepared for it.
We then move on to Skeever’s “Impedance”. The word itself could refer to various measures of electrical resistance to the flow of an alternating current (AC), or generally something meant to hinder or delay progress. Opening on a simple rhythm, Skeever’s guitarist shakes it up with a smooth glissando near the end of the first phrase, answered in the second phrase by warping strings and amplifier feedback. The drums, the very second instrument to be introduced in this track, pound on with a hot-blooded, confrontational passion. I truly lament having no guide to this song’s lyrics, as this track’s sound strikes me as almost reflective or introspective—But I cannot be certain. Part of the trouble is the vocalist’s ability to blend his voice between the rhythm and lead guitars; I can say, however, that it is pleasing on a sonic level, allowing the listener to “veg out” and enjoy the sound if they so desire. When the vocals fade and the guitar is allowed to break down into a blistering and
maddened solo, I have to give Skeever’s guitarist my praise. “Impedance” is a headbanger, though I would personally reserve headbanging to this for those times when headbanging is the only stress relief that will heal my heart.
Cosmoline’s “Somersault” makes itself distinct from the sound of Skeever in its hectic guitars tumbling along behind frenetic yet persistent drums, apropos of the song’s title. Cosmoline moves for a faster sonic establishment than Skeever, planting their concept like a seed to sprout throughout the song’s runtime. The voice of the lead singer weaves between the rhythm and lead guitars, similar to Skeever, which unfortunately obfuscates Cosmoline’s lyrics as well. This does, however, speak to their vocalist’s ability to “instrumentalize” his voice; straining falsettos replicate the warp of a guitar string held at the base of the neck while his tessitura stays around an octave below the treble clef. The song switches beats around the two-minute mark, suddenly sustaining the final chord of that first progression before diving into a messy, noisy yet jubilant solo that nearly resolves its discordant quality, yet never quite closes the gap. This leaves the listener feeling unsteady, and off-balance, as if the proverbial “Somersault” has ended in a rather nasty tumble, leaving behind some bumps and scrapes. This tension remains even as the song fades out, errant notes finally bringing some sense of relief through the inertia of its resonance after brief soundings. I would therefore describe Cosmoline’s sound as more experimentally narrative than Skeever’s, daring to take bold steps to paint their portrait in audio.
We end the EP on Cosmoline’s “Aphasia”. Again, the drums count us in, yet the guitars in this track sound a little more organized and consistent than before. This is an interesting detail to note for this track, as its title refers to a neurological symptom in which one may partially or completely lose the ability to use language and communicate. I’m able to catch one lyric, only one, and it leaves me ever more curious about this song’s message:
“I feel like I’m flyin’/Flyin’ away”
By nature of its being only a fragment, there are little to no impossibilities for what this short, driving track could be communicating—Quite true to its title, and in its own way, this is a thing of beauty. As the guitars fade out, the pitch warbles downward, leaving us on a similarly unsteady ending as “Somersault”. Cosmoline’s specialty seems to lie in their ability to carry tension from the end of one track to resolve it into the next, essentially creating a looping chain of release and tension through the hesitance, haze, and apathy characteristic of shoegaze.
Overall, “Contraband” is the perfect EP for a summer road trip in the years when youth is still within one’s grasp, yet beginning to slip. This is something communicated largely by the sound and “vibes” of the songs on this collection, and though my analysis of each track is limited, I can safely say that this tape provides a pleasant vibe to jam to as well as a delightful exhibition of both Skeever and Cosmoline’s sonic profiles. I look forward to seeing the variety of both groups even well beyond these demonstrative tracks.
Cosmoline
Skeever
Written by Alexei Lee
