Review: Women - Public Strain

Along with Girls and Mountain Man, Women are amongst a spate of recent bands with misleading gender-based names. It was fitting then, that their self-titled debut, released on Jagjaguwar, was such a hard album to pin down stylistically - blissful 60's pop in some places, discordant art-rock in others, unfathomable noise everywhere else. It was an unfocussed record, but it hinted at a whole range of fascinating avenues the band could explore further.

They go some way towards realising at least some of these ideas on Public Strain. Starting tentatively with Can't You See, its with Heat Distraction that Public Strain hits its stride, with clanging art-rock guitars and stuttering rhythms that recall Deerhoof at their most playful. Better still is Locust Valley, its richly interwoven guitar parts and gently wooed chorus helping to create something disarmingly beautiful.

As with their debut, Patrick Flegel's lyrics remain difficult to make out, as though they were sung down a long metal pipe. The band's sound is still filtered through a wall of noise - otherwise straightforward songs like Narrow With The Hall threaten to be engulfed by feedback - but moodpieces such as Bells serve to hold the album together, whereas in the past they might have disrupted the flow.

What's clear with Public Strain is how taut these guys have become as musicians. China Steps latches onto a jarring motorik rhythm and never releases you from its clutches. Drag Open's mangled guitars could almost be prime-era Sonic Youth. But as Black Rice, their previous highpoint from their first record revealed, the band know their way with a hook, and 6-minute album closer Eyesore is laden with them. This, along with Locust Valley, and the gentle lullaby of Venice Lockjaw, make for one of the strongest closing runs you are likely to hear this year.

Public Strain still doesn't quite feel like the finished article, but its a real grower, and with the band harnessing some of the good ideas of their debut, and throwing a few more into the mixing pot for good measure, there's every reason to believe Women will continue to grow as a band too.

83/100

Listen to if you like: Deerhunter, No Age, Ganglians