London rockers Crow Return with Reason Enough
They continue to breathe new life into post punk by linking it masterfully to its predecessor.
The main difference between punk and post punk is wardrobe. From Johnny Rotten to Johnny Ramone, the punk look is not too concerned with its tidiness. Enter the post-punks and suddenly you have Robert Smith in perfect makeup and Ian Curtis with his black button downs and well clipped locks. Yeah, there’s the whole tempo change and the vocal monotone monotony that signals “post-punk is not punk,” but beyond that is there really much difference? It’s arguable. The best bands that fall under the label of post-punk though don’t forget where they come from. Crows are a couple of generations too young to be original punk rockers or even post punk rockers, but they put together the best of both genres better than just about any band putting out moody, minimalist, black t-shirt clad guitar rock. WIth their third LP, Reason Enough, Crows make their strongest case yet for being crowned heir apparent to post punk legends like Joy Division, not because they out minimalist their progenitors, but because they out rock them.
Formed in 2015, Crows, which consists of James Cox (vocals), Steve Goddard (guitar), Jith Amarasinghe (bass) and Sam Lister (drums), released their first album Silver Tongues in 2019, went on tour with IDLES, recorded their follow up, Beware Believers, then promptly went into lockdown during COVID and had to wait two years before the album would be released. Regardless, they built up a loyal following due to their powerful live shows and are now touring the UK and Europe.
The comparisons to Joy Division were early and frequent, but from the outset, Crows’ music was infused with a much more muscular guitar sound than the post punk legends. Cox’s vocal delivery definitely is reminiscent of Curtis’ on certain songs, but on others it is evocative of early Michael Stipe in tone if not tenor. Songs like “Garden of England” off their second album plays out like a Sex Pistols song minus the sneer. “Only Time,” also off Beware Believers rocks by like a Joy Division song played at twice the speed. Songs like “Wednesday’s Child” off Silver Tongues places them squarely in post punk territory thematically, but manages to marry post punk guitar wail to grunge power chord drone, hinting at the brilliance to come.
Reason Enough, with its continuity of album cover design and sound, reins in the overdrive a bit while continuing to remind listeners that post punk is still punk. Tracks like “Vision of Me” will do little to eschew the most likely neverending comparisons to Joy Division, managing to maintain Crows’ loud guitar dynamics, while streamlining its sound. The result is a track that immediately calls to mind Joy Division, references radio friendly post punk of the late 1970s, and evokes Pink Floyd dystopia with the look of its video, at a volume higher than all three Title track “Reason Enough,” the album’s longest track, burns slow and loud, digging a heavy trough of groove that denotes a change in tone if not direction for the band, setting Reason Enough, the album, apart from its predecessors while staying true to the band’s theory of songwriting. “Reason Enough” is immediately followed up by the album’s fastest, shortest, and most punk track “Bored.” Ripping by at 2 minutes and 19 seconds, “Bored” swings the pendulum from slow burn to fiery frenzy, denoting that although Crows is testing deeper post punk waters, they are not leaving the shallow ponds of punk behind.
When it really comes down to it, labels are often revealed as pointless talking points for music nerds. If something rocks, it rocks. Everything that rocks though inherits the beat, the rhythm, and the nuances from those who came before. The trick is to make it sound new and fresh. Crows do this with a genre that is easily emulated, but rarely reinvigorated. So, put on your black turtlenecks and turn it up, but don’t expect to follow a downward spiral while listening to the best thing to happen to post punk since post punk. This moody haze of drone rocks.
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