Review:
Mudlark isn’t terribly powerful – yet – but has displayed immense promise on this debut LP, the downplayed charms of which have grown on me after only a few listens. Raised up on the first Dinosaur LP, Meat Puppets (and lots of the hayseed end of the SST catalog), perhaps Dead Moon or Roky and the Aliens, or most astutely the old Washington state band Gravel, here’s a power trio that doesn’t rely on guitar solos (and doesn’t do it that well when the opportunity arises), that wallows in the earth, sounding like the rhythmic rudiments of such an operation were favored over the technical details of recent contemporaries like Pontiak or Pearls & Brass. And yet they stand out for the path they’ve chosen, firing palm-muted dirt bullets into the leaf-strewn fields and kicking off a heavy flannel/hoodie/autumnal vibe, harmonious with their Western Mass lineage. Some listeners might feel a little shortchanged, but the transitional elements at play in these eight songs open up a number of directions that they could take, which is a little more exciting than these bands that have it all sewn up, then stagnate over a stretch of albums with diminishing returns. Reverse the curse.
(Doug Mosurock)
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